Death is a Disease
by gutter.xromance
Summary: -EdwardOC- For the first time in over two years, I saw my endless night begin to lighten as the bleak horizon bled into color and my world was cast into a soft and pale, but nonetheless brilliant light...
1. Prologue: Chicago, 1922

**Prologue: Chicago, 1922**

_Because I could not stop for Death  
He kindly stopped for me;  
The carriage held but just ourselves  
And Immortality  
_- Emily Dickinson

"Keep the change, Tommy," I said to the cabbie, tossing the ten dollar bill into the front seat.

"Thanks! 'Ey, you workin' tomorrow night? I thought I might bring the wife by, I been tellin' her about ya," Tommy said.

I smiled warmly and his cheeks tinted pink. I chuckled at this, for the man was at least twice my age. "I sure am, go ahead and bring her by so I can tell her she knows how to pick 'em." Throwing Tommy a wink, I slid out of the backseat not waiting to see the blush on his cheeks deepen.

Even from the street, I could hear the commotion within the speakeasy, it sounded as though it were filled to near capacity. I sauntered down the alley that rested between the two buildings, my pumps making clip-clop noises against the cobblestones. My grin only grew as I pulled open the backstage door, instantly met with the bustling of the backstage as well as the smell of cigarette smoke and alcohol.

"Where the hell is Wren!? Has anybody seen her!?" The voice of my boss sounded above the noise.

I groaned, the smile vanishing from my face as I pushed my way through the girls putting on make-up and the men puffing on their cigarettes. Absently, I snatched one from a man named Greg and gingerly placed it between my lips, finally coming upon my boss as a girl named Margaret moved out of his way.

"Damnit, Wren, you're late! You go on in five minutes!" His eyes were nearly bugging out of his head and the vein in his neck was pulsing dangerously. The guy was going to give himself a heart attack.

I rolled my eyes, "Don't sweat it, Max, besides if they're here to see me, they'll wait as long as they have to." I blew a ring of smoke in his face and pushed my way past him.

"I should fire your ass, you know that, Wren?" he called after me as I ascended the steps to my dressing room.

"You been telling me that every night for a year, Max," I called back. "And how would you make money without me?"

I heard him sigh in irritation and storm off because he knew I was right. Each night the club filled with people to hear me sing and watch me perform and I loved it. The spotlight, the applause, the adoration of the audience, it was like a drug and I was addicted. It wasn't a bad way to live either, I made a couple hundred a week.

I quickly took off my fur coat and threw it in the chair in the corner of the room before picking up the nearest beaded dress and sliding it on. I made sure my make-up wasn't smudged then headed out of my dressing room, finally rushing.

Max was at the bottom of the stairs, tapping his foot impatiently. He heard my door open and looked up, breathing a sigh of relief as I walked past him. But he followed me as I ducked and weaved through the other performers choking the backstage area. "Let's go, Wren, move it, move it, move it! You're killin' me here!"

"Yeah, yeah," I replied, jumping onto the rising platform as the announcer began to introduce me.

"Ladies and gentlemen, The Onyx Club is proud to introduce to you tonight, one jazz babe that is sure to steal your heart, Wren Landon!"

The platform beneath me stopped shuttering as he finished my introduction and the applause disguised the creaking as the crew made sure it stayed in place. The inside of my eyelids turned red as the spotlight directed itself on me. The crowd was hushed, expectant, they didn't so much as breathe until I began to snap my fingers on every fourth beat. The house band joined a few moments later and I counted myself in before I opened my mouth.

Every eye was on me as I sang and danced my way across the stage and back again. There was no better adrenaline rush for me than being on the stage as the envy of every woman and the desire of every man in the club. But as I got halfway through my second number, an uneasy feeling was building in my stomach. As I belted out the final note, I scanned the audience because that was the direction the feeling was coming from.

And then I found the source of my sudden discomfort. Every set of eyes was looking at me the same way, except for one in the furthest corner. This set of eyes stared at me hard, a cold, judgmental stare and if looks could kill I'd have dropped dead on the stage. And the face that they belonged to was beautiful, inhumanly so, with perfect, angled features. The candle being used as a centerpiece of the table he sat at cast his features into stark relief, illuminating the dark shadows under his haunting eyes.

My breath caught in my throat as I stared at him making me glad I only had two numbers because I didn't think I could find it in me to catch my breath. I held myself together as I made my way to my dressing room, after all, I had a reputation to protect. Once in my dressing room, I collapsed against the door, my breathing finally coming in gasps. For the first time since I started working at the Onyx Club, I didn't go out into the bar to watch the rest of the performances, I stayed holed up in my dressing room trying to erase the memory of those eyes from my mind.

**-:-**

"See ya, Max!" I hollered as I headed out, counting that night's pay. Fifty bucks, not bad, not bad at all. I glanced at the clock as I opened the door - one o'clock.

I pulled the collar of my coat closer to my neck as I stepped into the late night air. I had to walk home, but I only lived a couple blocks over. Before I reached the mouth of the alley, I got the feeling that I was being followed, I spun around quickly, but there was no one there. My brow furrowed and I sighed, thinking that I was merely paranoid while I spun around and ran directly into something that felt like a wall.

I glanced up and I gasped, taking a step back. For a second time that night I was looking into those eyes. "I-I'm so sorry, I should've paid attention to where I was going."

His mouth twisted into a crooked grin that didn't reach his eyes, which I now noticed where dark as night, fathomless ebony. "That's alright." If I weren't scared out of my wits, I might've swooned at the velvet tone of his voice.

"If you'll excuse me," I said, moving around him and heading to the street.

"Would you like an escort home?" he wondered.

I turned around to answer and found myself immobile, completely captivated once again by his eyes. I gulped and replied, "Thank you, but I don't even know you."

"If it helps, my name is Edward Masen," he said, charmingly.

"Well, thank you for the offer, Edward, but I think I can manage," I replied turning once again. I just wanted away from him, he was making me feel very uncomfortable. The only thing I wanted was to get to the safety of my apartment and crawl into my nice warm bed.

He caught my arm in a forceful grip and whispered, "It's late, and I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you on your way home knowing it could've been prevented if I had been with you."

I cast him a glare, "I can take care of myself." I hadn't realized how tightly he was holding me, for when I wrenched my arm from his hand, I stumbled and went crashing to the ground. I howled in pain when the hand I had held out to stunt my fall landed on a piece of a broken bottle.

Next thing I knew, I heard an animalistic snarl and he was on me, his mouth at my throat. There was a pin-prick of pain and then I felt like I was floating, euphoric. I felt my body pressing itself against him, my hand gripping the collar of his shirt, I wanted to be closer. And then I started to feel weak, my eyelids were getting heavy and the euphoria was disappearing, being replaced with a panic.

"Please… st-stop!" I begged him.

He gasped and withdrew as he released his hold on me. As I fell like a dead-weight, something came away in my hand that had been gripping his collar. His face was twisted into a mask of agony as he bent over me and affectionately brushed my hair from my face.

"I'm so sorry," he lamented.

My vision was going in and out of focus, the edges blurring and fading to black. The last thing I remember seeing were his eyes, tormented by regret and despair for what he had done to me. Those eyes would haunt me for the rest of my existence.

* * *

**Alright, so what do you think? I thought I'd try my hand at a Twilight fan-fic  
and I've had this idea for awhile. **

**The next chapter is going to be the second prologue told from Edward's point of view.  
**

**And before anyone asks, YES this is going to be an EdwardOC  
Why?  
Well... am I the only one that does not like Bella? And besides, what girl _doesn't_ want Edward for themselves?  
Now, I know that Twilight fan-fic readers are... rabidly picky when it comes to OC's invading this fandom  
but PLEASE give it try? I mean, I've found some fantastic ones! **

**Please review! And also keep in mind, any flames will be laughed at and not taken seriously. **

**-(gxr)-**


	2. Prologue II: Edward Masen, 1922

**Prologue II: Edward Masen, 1922**

_They hail me as one living,  
But don't they know  
That I have died of late years,  
Untombed although?  
I am but a shape that stands here,  
A pulseless mould,  
A pale past picture, screening  
Ashes gone cold.  
_- The Dead Man Walking, by Thomas Hardy

_This was a foolish thing to do_, I scolded myself as I trudged along the street, the collar of my coat pulled up against the chill that didn't bother me. Carlisle told me I wasn't ready to be around so many humans so soon after my change when I expressed the desire to get out of the home we shared. But I was stubborn, thinking I knew my body's limitations better than he. I was wrong, and now I understood what he meant.

I rounded a corner, feeling someone bump into me and they muttered an apology. I gritted my teeth against the fire that raged down my throat and twisted my stomach as I took in the sweet blood just beyond the surface of the man's skin. He wouldn't know what happened, no one would see him disappear into an alley as I pulled him with me. For half a second I almost turned around, but out of the corner of my eye I saw my reflection in a shop's window, my once green eyes, for I was only a few years old and could still remember such things, were a shocking shade of reddish-gold; I likened it to the shade of Iodine. Carlisle said it was because I was trying to wean myself off of human blood, the strange color, to follow in my sire's footsteps to a diet of animal blood.

But in the past four years, I had taken more human lives than I cared to count. And every time I did, I returned home expecting Carlisle to be angry with me, but he never was. The anger I could have handled, but not the disappointment, from him, the disappointment burned and scarred unlike anything else because of his unwavering trust and faith in me.

I wasn't sure how much longer I could tolerate Carlisle trying to… curb my appetite. He had lived on animal blood from his creation; I found it a bit unnatural. We were predators, humans were our prey. But I understood Carlisle from the moment my gift had been discovered because I could hear his thoughts; he didn't want to be a monster. I respected that, I respected him for building up such an immunity to human blood.

My train of thought was interrupted when I heard a commotion from my right. I turned, my eyes meeting the front door of a speakeasy. Something drew me inside, something I couldn't help. Half a dozen of the stronger smells hit me at first, smoke, alcohol, sweat, opium, perfume and cologne. My throat burned as I took in the scent of blood around me. My nostrils flared as I registered that a man two feet to my left had nicked himself shaving that day.

And then the flurry of thoughts that assaulted my mind at once distracted me from the thirst. One woman was wondering if her husband would notice the smell of the cologne of the man she was hanging on, another's thoughts were as drunk as her stumbling. A man was there collecting on a bet that he made with a friend. But there were so many, it was maddening with the voices shouting and talking and whispering in addition to the thoughts.

I made my way further into the club, "Can I find you a seat, sir?" a woman with a doll-face asked me. She smelled of brandy, lipstick, and cheap perfume. But her blood was a spicy ginger.

"A table in the back, if you please," I flashed her a smile and she easily complied to my request.

"Right this way." I followed her easily through the crowd to an open table in the back corner. She motioned for me to sit down asking, "Can I get you anything?"

I shook my head, "No, thank you."

She looked a bit disappointed that I needed nothing else from her, but she turned and walked away. To a human, the performance on stage would be barely audible from my position, but I heard it as though I were in the front. I could hear the people back stage, running to and from, trying to locate this or that. I could even faintly hear the people outside.

An angry voice from the backstage caught my attention suddenly louder than anything else. "Where the hell is Wren!? Has anyone seen her!?" The owner of the voice was moving through the performers backstage, searching for his missing performer. Then, "Damnit, Wren, you're late! You go on in five minutes!"

"Don't sweat it, Max, besides if they're here to see me, they'll wait as long as they have to," the young woman, it had to be Wren, replied arrogantly.

"I should fire your ass, you know that, Wren?" the first man, Max, sneered.

She laughed, it sounded like an angel's laugh despite her previously arrogant tone. "You been telling me that every night for a year, Max," she answered. "And how would you make money without me?"

A few minutes passed quickly before I heard Max rushing Wren to the stage, while she snapped back with a smart remark. "Ladies and gentleman, The Onyx Club is proud to introduce to you tonight, one jazz babe that is sure to steal your heart, Wren Landon!"

The trap door beneath her shuttered to a stop, and then the spotlight swiveled to her. She was tall, a little over five and a half feet, dressed in a black and silver beaded dress. It amazed me that she suddenly commanded the attention of the room, many of the female's thoughts were directed toward their envy of her, while the men… I'd rather not delve into some of their thoughts toward the young woman on stage.

The house band began to play and Wren raised her head causing some of her dark, almost black hair to fall behind her shoulders. Her mouth opened and I took an involuntary intake of breath at the sound of her voice, it was the most beautiful thing I had heard since being changed, and that was saying something. I vaguely wondered if the bells of Notre Dame were this varied and this beautiful.

And then… and then she twirled as she was dancing and her hair fanned out around her. The smell wafted over the crowd and hit me full force, almost knocking me from the chair. I saw red and felt the sudden rush of venom in my mouth coating my tongue. My throat was on fire, burning, begging for the relief her, undoubtedly, delicious blood would bring. My stomach turned and twisted, achingly empty all of a sudden. I felt the growl rumble in the back of my throat as she sent another wave of her seductive smell toward me. I felt the edges of the chair I was sitting in splinter in my hands, but I didn't let go, the chair was the only thing keeping me from leaping across the crowd and draining her with an entire audience watching.

But there was something else, along with the sudden irresistible lust for her blood. I wanted to kill every man within the vicinity that was thinking lecherous thoughts about her, I wanted to rub her beauty in the face of every envious woman. My hands itched to travel along the flimsy muscles of her legs, to twirl her hair in my fingers. I wanted blood and body.

Suddenly, I realized that she was staring at me. I couldn't fathom the look that must've been on my face for her to look at me with that expression on hers. It was as though she were looking at a monster, as if she could see me for what I was. The expression on her face spared her as I got a momentary grasp on what humanity I had left.

After the audience applauded, Wren all but fled from the stage to the safety of her dressing room. I stood quickly, stopping the air flow to my lungs, it was instantly uncomfortable, but her smell wasn't as strong anymore though it lingered in my nose and I could taste it on my tongue. I walked outside and took a deep breath, the night air was strangely satisfying, despite the humans surrounding me. Just so long as I didn't smell _her. _The scent of blood of the dozens of humans surrounding me was easy to deal with, which was a disturbing thought, that within a matter of a few minutes every other human's blood was tolerable except for hers.

As soon as I exited the club, I should've started walking, running as far as I could from Wren and her disturbingly, alluring scent. I should've run from her midnight blue eyes, captured by a sudden fear as she looked at me. But I didn't. Though every fiber of my being was telling me to run, lift foot, bend knee, one right after the other in the interest of self-preservation, in the interest of _her_ preservation, I didn't.

I was unsure of how long I stood there, but soon the crowds dispersed on the streets, the cars that passed became fewer a far between. A quiet settled over the street, unbroken with the exception of distant murmurs on other streets.

A door in the alley opened, and I heard her step out into the alley, shouting good-bye to her boss. _Hmm, _she thought to herself. _It's one o'clock, too late to catch a cab, good thing I only live a few blocks over._ She was planning on walking home, in this city? For a moment, I was almost angry for her audacity, but I couldn't help but grin sardonically at the thought that she must not know what roams this city by the light of the moon.

Wren turned around to look down the alleyway, she thought she was being followed. I moved into the alley, standing behind her silently. I stooped slightly, taking in the scent of her hair. It burned my throat, rubbed it raw, I swallowed the venom that pooled under my tongue, shoved my hands into my coat pockets as I balled them into fists. The scent of cigarette smoke hung on her skin, but she smelled spicy and bittersweet, I had a feeling that her blood would taste like cinnamon with a touch of honey. I withdrew as she turned and ran directly into me.

"I-I'm so sorry, I should've paid attention to where I was going," she apologized.

Her cheeks colored prettily with her embarrassment, and I swallowed hard, she had no idea what that simple pooling of blood did to the monster that raged in me. But I reigned it in, I was _determined_ not to harm her, an innocent girl that had done nothing but exist. "That's alright," I replied, easily.

Her eyes narrowed slightly. I scared her which was natural, it was all that was occupying her thoughts, she just wanted to go home and shut her door on me… as if that door could stop me. If only she knew. "If you'll excuse me." she moved around me, moving a little quicker towards the street.

I had the crushing feeling that if I weren't with her, something would happen to her on her way home. Against my better judgment, I asked, "Would you like an escort home?"

Wren turned toward me and was struck still by something, but it didn't last long. "Thank you, but I don't even know you."

I nodded, understanding, "If it helps any, my name is Edward Masen." I hadn't yet taken to using Carlisle's last name.

She swallowed and I fisted my hands tighter watching as the hollow of her throat moved, "Well, thank you for the offer, Edward, but I think I can manage." If my heart had a beat, it would have jumped when she said my name. Had she noticed that her voice dropped the slightest bit, to a softer level?

But panic overcame me, she couldn't walk home by herself, I couldn't let her. Were she accosted on the way home, she wouldn't stand a chance, she was thin, weak… pathetically _human_. I grabbed her arm jerking her to face me, I felt her human fragility in my hands and I loosened my grip, but if she felt how tightly I had her, it didn't show on her face. "It's late and I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you on your way home knowing it could've been prevented had I been with you."

I should've had her entranced from the moment she laid eyes on me. She should've been hypnotized by my unearthly beauty, and yet, she was repelled more forcefully than anyone I've encountered thus far. Her eyes narrowed in what I took as a powerful glare and she hissed, "I can take care of myself."

When she pulled her arm out of my grip she realized how tightly I had her, but she pulled with more force than was necessary. One foot stepped backward and she slipped, crashing to the ground. She cried out in pain, but it barely registered to me, it was too late - I smelled her blood. It was out in the open. The monster in me raged, jubilated, and the cage that held it bent and shattered. I pulled her up easily, and my mouth was at her throat.

I bit down, and it was disturbing how easily I broke skin. Her blood was like life it itself rushing into my mouth, mingling with the venom as it placated my thirst and cooled my burning throat. It was warm, sustaining and the taste indescribable; tangy, sweet, bitter, spicy; a delicacy. Ambrosia, the nectar of the Gods. She wasn't repelling me anymore, on the contrary, she was pressing her lean body against mine, trying to be closer and I obeyed her unspoken request by holding her tighter, feeling her spine begin to curve against my forearms.

Her heartbeat was finally slowing, she was going slack in my arms. And then she spoke, it was barely a whisper, but I heard it as if she had yelled it in my ear. "Please… st-top!"

All at once, reality rushed back to me. I drew in a gasp and pulled back, licking my lips as I dropped her gently to the ground. I watched her, pale, struggling for her last breaths. _How could I have done this to her!? _I loathed myself as I bent over her and brushed her hair off her forehead.

"I'm so sorry." I meant every word more than any that I had spoken in my life.

I watched her pupils dilate in and out of focus. But before they went sightless forever, something I never thought would happen, did. Her slim eyebrows came together slightly, and her eyes softened. It was a look of forgiveness. She was forgiving me, with those beautiful blue eyes, for what I had done to her. How could an angel like her, absolve one such as myself? I imagined if I could cry, I would be as her head lolled back and she ceased all movement.

I bent down, the light of the moon had caught something shiny and shiny things tended to attract my attention. It was a necklace, silver; a simple cross. I pulled it from her neck and held it in my hand, I could've crushed it easily if I simply closed my hand around it, but I didn't. I slipped it into my pocket and began the process of moving and hiding her body, I couldn't leave her there, it seemed wrong.

When I finished, I headed back to the home I shared with Carlisle, knowing the next order of events because I had lived them before. But they passed monotonously, my sire's disappointment in my actions didn't effect me as much this time. I nodded where it was appropriate, where I had dozens of times before. I went to my room afterwards, closing the door behind me. I pulled the necklace from my pocket and held it gingerly in my hands as I recalled the taste of its owner's blood in my mouth. And I felt sickened as I reached up to grasp the St. Jude pendant my mother had given me, but it was gone. I realized with sudden clarity that it was with _her_, she had pulled it from around my neck as she fell from my arms. It was then that I vowed to never take another innocent's life.

I had taken an angel's life, and in her last dying moments she had exonerated me of my heinous crime. The look in her eyes, and her eyes themselves, would haunt me for the rest of my days.

* * *

**Alright, there we go, the second prologue in Edward's POV.  
I hope that you enjoyed it!  
I tried to keep him as in character as possible... let's hope io accomplished that. **

**Uhm... next chapter is Wren waking up as a Vampire.**

**I would like to thank the three people that reviewed the first prologue, it basically made my life!  
So thanks to... **Marebear007, w8ing4rain, **and** Kanika Meskhenet.**  
But a bigger thanks to **Marebear007** who reminded me that I forgot to mention in the first prologue that  
I got the name of the speakeasy from the musical Chicago (I was so nervous and worried about posting  
that I completely forgot) So thanks!! **

**Please review!? **

**-(gxr)-**


	3. First Blood

**Ch. 1 - First Blood**

_Man, the egregious egoist,  
(In mystery the twig is bent,)  
Imagines, by some mental twist,  
That he alone is sentient  
_- Cold Blooded Creatures by Elinor Wylie

_I had been nineteen when I had been changed. But it was a fluke. I should've died a normal, mortal death, never to awaken again. But my body refused to succumb to death, my human instincts for survival were much higher than other's. So it raged and rebelled against the venom as it coursed through my veins. It was a pain I would remember for as long as I lived even now that I could no longer feel physical pain. It took a week, where the standard was three days. One agonizing week with a burning pain torturing every inch of my being. Some days, I wished for a mortal death, opened myself to it, others I grew obstinate and stubborn and fought harder to… live. _

_He thought he had left me to die. He thought he had drained me… that's what should've happened anyway. I like to think that had he known I would survive not only him draining me, but the change as well, that he would not have left me alone. But that didn't change the fact that I resented him for what he had done to me, for what I turned into…_

****

-:-

It was night when I came into the consciousness of my new self. The pain ebbed away and for a moment, I thought I really had died, I was so peaceful. Then it was sensory overload. Even in the night everything was too bright, too loud, too… real. Statues moved, but didn't. The world had changed and yet it looked exactly as I remembered it. I was choking with the scents that assaulted my olfactory sense. I could hear every sound within a five hundred yard radius of me, and it ricocheted on the inside of my skull.

My throat was dry, as if I hadn't had anything to drink in weeks. My stomach twisted painfully. To make an attempt to quench this thirst, I crawled to the edge of the river - I had been dumped under the Michigan Avenue Bridge, and cupped the water in my hands bringing it to my mouth. The relief was momentary before the water suddenly tasted like and had the consistency of ash and I spit it out.

I sat back on my legs, confused, and looked around. Something gold caught my eye and I leaned over to pick it up. It was a necklace with a single pendant. I recognized it was what had come away in my hands as _he _released me. I held the oval-shaped charm between my fingers and looked it over, instantly recognizing St. Jude, The Patron Saint of Lost Causes depicted there. I stuffed the necklace into my coat pocket, thankful that I still had it and stood, deciding that it was probably a good idea to return to my apartment.

My mind was in such a flurry that I hardly noticed anything as I trudged my way back to my apartment, I was the only person on the streets as it was around five in the morning. I was confused as to the series of events that led to me being under the Michigan Avenue Bridge, I could only have gotten there by one mean - _he_ had moved me, and I hadn't been thrown down carelessly, I had been laid gently, out of the way should it rain or storm. But this gentle courtesy from my attacker (for I had yet to realize I was technically dead and should've been calling him a murderer) did not appease the anger I felt.

The air in my apartment building was stifling, hot and stagnant. I could smell the pot of tea that someone was making a floor above me, the whiskey from the apartment on the right of mine, and under that, something else, the only remotely appealing scent to me. It was… sweet, yet salty. It made me painfully aware of how empty my stomach was, and I felt my mouth water.

I turned the key to my apartment, hearing the gears turn, the tumbler fall into place. I assumed it was my brush with my attacker that made me so acutely aware of my surroundings, after all fear did heighten the senses. I heard the door down the hall before I saw it open out of the corner of my eye. The air the open door allowed to rush in my direction brought with it the sour smell of a cat and the same smell that appealed to me, but stronger causing my stomach to churn and my mouth to water even more than before.

"Oh my goodness, Wren, there you are! You've been gone for days, I've been so worried!" It was Mrs. Horowitz, my neighbor down the hall. She was nearly sixty, a widow and kind old lady. If I really had been gone for days then she probably hasn't slept, which would explain why she was up so early.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Horowitz… I'm not feeling well, please excuse me." I was becoming dizzy with the smell, it was clouding all my other senses.

"I see why, you've been through something horrible haven't you, dear? My goodness, you're so pale, come in and let me make you some soup," she insisted.

I didn't look at her, feeling my hand tighten around the doorknob, barely registering the fact that the brass was molding under my grip. Several other things occurred to me at once, first was that the smell that attracted me so also had the under scent of iron and that it was Mrs. Horowitz's blood; second, it was the scent of her blood that was making my mouth water, my throat burn and my stomach twist; third, was that if she didn't turn around and walk into her apartment, I was going to kill her.

"Mrs. Horowitz, _please_," I begged her, swallowing hard. I didn't _want_ to kill her.

Mrs. Horowitz took four steps toward me, and placed her hand on the shoulder of my coat in what she meant to be a comforting gesture, "Come on dear."

And I was undone. Up 'til that point, it was merely my survival instinct that kept me from killing her, that kept my control so strong because I knew if I killed her, this nice old lady, the hunt would be on for her killer.

It would have been useless to try and stop me. It only took a second for me to pull her hand off my shoulder, I felt her wrist shatter in my hand as I did so. With my other hand, I wrenched her head to the side, hearing it crack. It happened so fast that she only had time to draw in a gasp. I didn't grasp what I was doing as I bent my head and driven by something primal, sunk my teeth into the artery at her neck. Warmth flooded into my body as her blood rushed in, cooling the burning in my throat and easing the twisting of my stomach.

When her body went absolutely limp, I found myself disappointed, drawing my head back and licking the front of my teeth. Then, all too quickly, I realized what I had done and was disgusted with myself as I dropped Mrs. Horowitz's body to the ground. I hadn't wanted to kill her, not at all, I liked her, she had taken care of me like I was her own and now she was dead… dead because of me. Panic bubbled in me next, the feeling brought about by the need to conceal what I had done, to protect myself. Easily, I dragged her body back into her apartment, then lifted her into the chair in the front room. My eyes burned with tears, but I found that none were making tracks down my face.

I took a step back and looked at her, feeling my shame and guilt rage. A growl caught my attention and I turned to look at Mrs. Horowitz's cat, its tail straight in the air, the fur on its small body standing on end. And then for a second I thought, _how dare this insignificant creature growl at _me_? _and I let a growl past my own lips and the cat howled and darted off recognizing me as a deadly threat.

I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and turned toward it. I was struck by what I saw, a young woman, snow-pale and beautiful beyond description, lacking any human imperfections. Her dark hair fell around her shoulders and looked like it would be silk to touch. Her eyes were a shocking shade of vermillion that made me take half a step back; they glowed in the half-light of the room around me. Then it occurred to me that as I had taken a step back, so had the young woman, and it crashed down on me that it was merely my reflection I was staring at so fixedly. Those were _my_ scarlet eyes staring back at me under a row of thick lashes.

This was the way of things I told myself, oddly calm as I stared into my eyes. This is what I had become. With a sudden clarity, I accepted the fact that I was no longer human, that I was above them. I was dangerous now, a predator and they were my prey. It was simple as that. And it seemed foolish to me now that I tried to begrudge myself blood, almost tried to deny that was what I had thirsted for (though I did feel horribly for what I had done to someone I had once considered a friend) when to hunt and kill was the most basic instinct of any predator. Did the lion deny himself the gazelle?

No.

And neither would I.

* * *

**Alright, here's the first official chapter! **

**I was going to have this up yesterday, but was being a douche.  
And in case you didn't notice, I've had to re-format every single chapter  
because eff'ed the previous format I had up.  
Mad me angry. (angryness)**

**So, anyway...  
Wren is a vamp and Edward is no where to be seen  
because he thought he killed her.  
Uhm...  
next chapter we'll see what Wren was up to for the next 80 years. **

**I wanna thank **isabelle, w8ing4rain, Marebear007, **and** twialleyholic-OCD  
**for reviewing the last chapter, you guys are awesome! Thanks so much!!**

**I hope you have a great... whatever holiday you celebrate! :D**

**Please review!!**

**-(gxr)-**


	4. The Next Eighty Years

**Ch. 2 - The Next Eighty Years**

_What are days for?  
Days are where we live.  
They come, they wake us  
Time and time over.  
They are to be happy in:  
Where can we live but days?  
_- Days, by Phillip Larkin

When Chicago grew boring for me after only a few years, I began to travel. It was an odd feeling to leave the town I had lived… and died in. But no matter how far I traveled, I felt something pulling me back there. A thread that was connected to me and though I traveled far over the next few decades, I felt it pull me, even as it stretched so thin I thought it would snap, this must have been because whatever I was connected to was also moving away. But I also had the feeling that I would follow this thread wherever it may lead one day.

It was soon like that with anyone I had met in my travels, no matter how short a time I had known them, another thread connected them to me, but it seemed that the longer I knew them and more I knew about them, the thread grew more solid. And this thread I could follow anywhere, though the wilderness, over the ocean, the mountains and it would lead me to what I was connected to. And the threads themselves were as diverse as each individual person, I could connect them to a face, a scent, a voice.

But the thread that connected me to The Windy City had nothing to connect it with. If I tried to focus on what was on the other end there was nothing, no voice, no face, no scent. This unnerved me to no end over the years.

I was a little over thirty when I ventured into Volterra, and it was entirely by accident that I happened upon the underground castle. But I was welcomed warmly. Aro, Caius, and Marcus invited me to tell them my story, and I did so. They were surprised that I knew nothing of the vampire that had created me, my sire… But that wasn't entirely true, I vaguely remembered the moments before I was bitten. I had his name, a name I refused to speak; I had his pendant, and I had the image of his tormented eyes as he apologized for what he had done to me. When I told them my theory, that my sire didn't think I would survive, they agreed telling me that it was against their laws to leave a newborn to fend for themselves because it risked exposure and to do so meant death for both newborn and the vampire that had created it.

It was here that I discovered I had a gift. In my travels, meeting others of my kind, I had heard that it was possible for us to have gifts, but I had never encountered one that had a gift and I never dreamed that I might have one. I admit there was a time when I considered my ability to find anyone no matter their location special, but as it turned out, I was merely a Tracker, a common enough thing, ordinary.

It was a rather comical way that my gift was happened upon, well, looking back it was comical, at the time, it was an entirely different story. Jane didn't like me from the moment that Aro told me I was welcomed in their underground home, however unknowingly I had come upon it. I seemed to intrigue Marcus as well, as I had no relationships he could see, I theorized that this was because I didn't consider anyone important enough for me to have a relationship with them. But anyway, this particular instance, I had managed to offend Jane direly and she unleashed the awesome force that was her gift on me.

Like anyone would, I crumpled to the floor in agony, it wasn't close to what the change felt like, but for not having felt pain in over three decades, it was a force to be reckoned with. When it was over, I was staring at the stone ceiling, panting for breath I didn't need while Jane looked exceptionally smug. I pulled myself to my feet and everyone in the room was wondering if I would retaliate, but I knew better, I was no longer a headstrong newborn and Jane was many years my senior. But as she walked away, I simply imagined her curled on the ground, writhing and screaming, I wanted so badly for her to feel what it was like when she used her gift on someone and then… it happened.

I was just as shocked as anyone and it was my shock that mucked up my concentration and she stopped screaming. It was only a few moments, but it was enough to make her hate me for the rest of the eternity we were both condemned to. She cast me the most hate-filled glare before she stalked from the room. I was still in shock as Aro, Caius and Marcus approached me, all looking me over with curious and intrigued expressions. They asked me to do what I had done again, but I could not, it seemed that it only worked when Jane was in the immediate area; that was the limitation of my gift.

They asked me what I had done in my human life, and when I told them I had been a performer, they instantly had a theory. They asked me to see if I could copy Marcus' gift and I complied, concentrating, willing myself to see the relationships that connected everyone in the immediate area. And I could, I could see the friendships that bound the three elders but it was tainted with a bit of animosity, jealousy, centuries old grudges. I could see the leader-subject relationship that bound every other vampire in the room to the three vampires as well as the relationships between each individual. When Marcus left the room, the relationships became less distinct until they vanished altogether.

But I had proved their theory: I was a Mimic. I could copy other's gifts and use them as my own, but only if they were in the immediate area. And it didn't work over a distance of two hundred yards. But the discovery of my gift made me their new play thing. They helped me hone it, and control it until I had mastered it entirely to the point that copying someone's ability required little thought and they didn't have to use it on me for me to copy it.

I stayed with them for about twenty years, and I was grateful they had taken me in, they were the sires I never had. There was only one thing that bothered me. It wasn't that they fed on human blood because I myself did, but I preferred to hunt rather than lure, I enjoyed the chase a bit too much; the way their fear and adrenaline made their blood taste. One of their laws was no hunting within the walls of the city, and yet, tourists were lured countless times to the underground castle to the vast antechamber and killed mercilessly. Was the underground castle not considered within the walls of the city that it resided beneath? Or because it was underground, away from the humans and therefore not an exposure risk, did it fall into the category of "loophole"? It bothered me that they were the exception to their own rule. I hated double standards. I didn't feed with the rest of them when the tourists were lured, unaware of the horrific fate that awaited them. It hardly seemed fair. I simply sat back and watched, fiercely ignoring the thirst while it scorched down my throat at the scent of their blood that spilled into the room.

It was eventually this that drove me from what I had considered my home for two decades. I didn't explain to Aro, Marcus, and Caius why I left. I thought fondly of them and I respected their laws, their reasons for them, how they handed down punishment to those who broke them. Not to mention they had done more for me than I could ever ask and they didn't ask for anything in return. I didn't want to tell them that it was one of their own laws that drove me from their presence. I made up the excuse that I had missed traveling and seeing what I could of the world, that I had grown restless, which wasn't an entire lie, but it wasn't as strong as I made them believe. They let me leave unhindered, wishing me well and to return any time I pleased.

I began my travels anew turning my direction south, to Africa. I was a little over half a century old, and the world hadn't changed much with the exception of having survived the second world war, and two more since I had been changed. And it was here, in the densest jungles that I added a change to my diet. In the deep jungles, there were no humans to feed from, and I didn't want to risk not feeding and then when I returned to civilization massacre every human I could sink my teeth into. Jaguar was my favorite. They got so angry when you tugged on their tails, and in my opinion, the angrier the better. Egypt was my favorite country. I broke into tombs and stared down the mummified faces of ancient kings, risked the curses that warned away all who might enter; for there was no curse more horrific than the curse of being unable to die.

In the early 80's I could be found wandering the Orient. What a beautiful, fascinating land with it's brilliant colors and the musical sounds, and the smells. One of my favorite things to do while I was there was to walk the Great Wall by the moonlight, look out over the land, see the lights shining in the villages and cities. It was truly breathtaking. Again I kept to my combined diet of animal and human blood as I ventured into the jungles there, hoping to see the Pandas. Lazy as they may be, Pandas are irritatingly elusive animals.

In 1997 I finally returned home having visited Russia, Japan, Australia and South America after I left China. My city had changed, grown, developed in my time away. When I returned home, I discovered with a bit of despair that whoever connected me to this city was no longer there, they had moved on and still, when I focused on the other end of that thread, there was nothing. I knew I had been foolish to hope that there was still something there for me. But I was growing lonely living the life of a solitary vampire. I desired a companion more than anything the last few years, but I would not dare try and create one because I did not understand how it was done.

Ten years later, I was still living in Chicago and still alone. As a vampire, I was 85 years old. If I were still human, I would've been 104 and in the ground, rotting. I had yet to follow the thread that had once connected me to this city, almost fearful of what I would find on the other end. But something strange had happened to it. It had stretched so thin that I panicked, thinking it had snapped, something I didn't think was possible. The problem was that it was not a physical distance that caused it stretch so thin, I was sure that whoever I was connected to was still in the same place, but somehow, they weren't… as if mentally they were somewhere far, far away, somewhere beyond my tracking skills. Oddly enough, I had never felt a more crushing loss, thinking that this anomaly in my life was suddenly beyond my reach. I decided then that I would follow the thread to whoever it connected me to, and find out why they had suddenly become unreachable.

I would not follow through with this decision for another two years

* * *

**Kind of a boring chapter, I know  
but, I'd rather put her life into a chapter  
then have to explain it in a monologue later. Agreed?**

**Hmm... next chapter will be in Edward's POV  
and you'll finally find out what I did about Bella.  
And no, I didn't kill her no matter how much I would've liked to.**

**Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed last chapter!!  
**Isabella M.C., twialleyholic-OCD, Kanika Meskhenet, w8ing4rain, **and **Serenity Blossom**!  
Thanks a bunch you guys, you make me happy!! **

**Please review? :D**

**-(gxr)-**


	5. Loved and Lost

**Ch. 3 - Loved and Lost**

_Let it be forgotten, as a flower is forgotten,  
Forgotten as a fire that once was singing gold,  
Let it be forgotten for ever and ever,  
Time is a kind friend, he will make us old._  
- Let It Be Forgotten, by Sara Teasdale

God created the world in seven days.

Mine came to an end in less than a heartbeat.

I didn't need to be able to read her thoughts to know what she was planning, it was written all over her face, etched deep in her melted chocolate eyes. There was no swaying her decision. Not that I would try, she was better off without me. I couldn't even pretend that I didn't see it coming, I deserved this for what I had done to her. I had hurt her too much for her to forgive me, and if I had hurt her this badly once, she had no basis to believe that I would not do it again.

If I had known that all of the past year's events could've been prevented by telling her that she meant nothing to me, I would have done so the first week I met her.

What I was not prepared for was the pain of losing her, knowing that she would never be mine again. It was much different than being separated from her when I attempted to track Victoria, than when I thought she had committed suicide. Never again would I touch her, hear her voice, kiss her lips, stare into her eyes. I would live with this pain, though, as my penance. But the world was not so dark because I knew she was still in it. So long as Isabella Swan _lived_, I would bear my cross. I could not live in a world where she did not exist.

I had been right in my assumption that her and I were a tragic love story. And what a tragic end it was. I believed in fate, and it was fate that deemed we were not intended for one another.

I returned home, bringing with me a cloud of dark despondency that emanated from my very person. It was almost tangible, a haze hanging around me. Jasper tensed when I stalked past him, he didn't need his ultra-sensitivity to know my mood, and he knew better than to try and use it to calm me down.

As I trudged to my bedroom, I heard one thought unsurprised at the voice. _At least we don't have to protect her every second of every day anymore. _But it lacked the bitterness that she was trying to convey. She didn't like seeing me this way anymore than I liked feeling this way.

"Rose…" I said in a warning tone.

"Sorry," she muttered, truly apologetic.

I didn't bother closing my door as I sunk into the couch, waiting. It wasn't long before Alice came in and sat down next to me. Silently, she took my hand and held it between hers, but I wouldn't look at her. I felt even less human than I already was, not just dead… empty. The sun had been taken from my sky and it would never rise again. I was condemned to walk in endless night.

Finally, after a silence that lasted minutes… maybe hours, I'm not sure. I said, "You knew." It wasn't a question, and I wasn't asking for confirmation.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her nod once. If it were possible for Alice to cry, she would've been, I was not the only one suffering from a loss that day. But my loss was greater, Alice hadn't loved her the way I did.

"And you didn't tell me?" I said wretchedly.

A tearless sob choked itself from her lips, "I couldn't, Edward, I'm so sorry! I didn't know how to tell you!" She buried her face in the crook of my neck and her body continued to rack with tearless sobs. What a pathetic spectacle we must've been, mourning the loss of a human who wasn't even dead.

After awhile, Alice stopped sobbing but her face remained buried in my neck and if I didn't know better, I'd have thought she had fallen asleep. I still hadn't moved, but I squeezed Alice's hand, silently letting her know that I forgave her, after all, it wasn't her fault.

Suddenly, she lifted her head and placed her hand on my cheek, turning my head to face her. I looked at her without really seeing her, my expression blank. Lifting her hand, she smoothed out the furrow of my brow, the lines around my mouth drawn in by the slight frown. It was pity I found there in her eyes.

_You will love again, Edward. You'll find someone. _At the time, I missed the soft confidence in her thoughts.

"I don't want anyone else, Alice," I told her, almost sickened at the thought of it.

The corner of her mouth quirked with an indulgent smile as she leaned forward and kissed my forehead, "You say that now, but time passes quickly for us. If you don't make yourself suffer, then you won't for long."

She left, shutting the door behind her as she did. I didn't bother searching her thoughts for whatever she might've seen, I didn't want to know, if anything, I shut her out more fiercely than I ever had. How could I ever even entertain the thought of loving someone else? It was absurd!

I stood up and crossed to the window, staring out into the woods behind the house. What was I to do now? The entire focal point of my world was suddenly gone, I had no purpose any more. For the last year or so I had devoted myself to making sure that the person I loved more than anything was safe and had everything she wanted or needed. And in a matter of seconds, all that had been taken away from me.

With a sudden crushing realization, I knew I couldn't remain in Forks, not while she was still here. It would be too hard for me, I would be too tempted to see her just as I was now. Even as I was walking to the door and down the hall, I wasn't entirely sure that I would follow through with leaving. It would hurt my family to see me leave, but I also knew they would not begrudge me this if they knew I needed it. And I wouldn't stay gone for long, only until I knew that she was gone, away at school.

Carlisle heard me coming to his office and was expecting me when I opened the door. I said nothing for a few moments, standing stalk-still in front of his desk my eyes focused on the floor beneath my feet. I was still warring with myself about the decision to leave, it would hurt Esme the most, and she didn't deserve that, but I could not stand idly by while she went on to love and care for others. It was something that no one could ask of me.

Carlisle's eyebrows knitted together. _What is it Edward?_

I took a deep breath, unsure of how doing this seemed to calm humans down because my mind was still in a flurry. "… I'm…" I hesitated.

Was I really going to do this?

The image of her face appeared in my mind and the pain suddenly radiated to my kneecaps. No, I couldn't stay. Not when she was so close. When I thought that I could see her without aching so completely, then I would return.

I took another breath to find my voice again, "… I'm leaving. I need to leave." Even to me, my voice sounded doused in agony.

Carlisle nodded, "I thought you might."

I directed my eyes downward again knowing that if I could blush it would be from shame. I was a coward, running from one human girl. "I can't stay here."

My father stood from the chair and rounded his desk, coming to stand in front of me. He placed his hands on my shoulders, "Do what you have to, son. Your family is here for you, you know that."

I did know that, but my family is not what I needed. _Make sure you say good-bye to your mother_

I nodded, "I will." He smiled at me, but his eyes were still consumed with an immense sadness at seeing me go. "I'll be back…" _I just don't know when_, I added privately.

"I know you will, son. Take care of yourself while you're away," Carlisle told me gently.

I turned and walked out of his office. As I made my way back to my bedroom, Esme met me at the bottom of the stairs. I felt my chest constrict taking in the sadness on her heart-shaped face. She smiled grimly and held out her arms to me and I went to her, hugging her tightly. I could feel her shaking with unshed tears as she held me.

"I'm sorry, Edward," she whispered, her soft voice filled with remorse.

I shook my head, "It couldn't be helped." I was trying to be strong for her, she would only worry more if I showed her how much I was affected.

She stepped back, taking my head in her hands and kissed my cheek. I didn't need to tell her I was leaving, she already knew, they all did, whether Alice had seen it and told them or whether they guessed, they already knew. Esme smoothed my hair away from my forehead and her smile was a little warmer.

"Come back soon," she said and then her voice became weak with emotion, "I miss you already."

I nodded, swallowing the tightness in my throat, "I miss you too, Mom."

I hugged her one last time then headed up to my room. _I love you, Edward_, Esme thought with all the love that a mother could. This made me involuntarily quirk the tiniest of smilesas I rounded the first corner into the hall.

When I entered my room, I found my brothers and sisters there waiting for me to wish me farewell. I would miss them all terribly but for different reasons. I would miss Emmett's easy-going nature, the way he could easily make me laugh, I would miss Jasper's charisma, his sense of humor. I would miss talking about cars with Rosalie, working on them with her. Alice I would miss the most, her confidence, her energy, everything.

Emmett had placed a large hand on my shoulder, "Take care of yourself, kid." _Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all..._

I scoffed, "Try it." Alice strode forward and hugged me, "Keep an eye on her, Alice," I asked, quietly.

_I will._

I turned to Rosalie, her perfect mouth was twisted into a sorrowful grimace and her eyes were hard with the emotions she was trying to hide. Rose was never one for good-byes. "Take care of my car for me?"

This made her chuckle, but it lacked any humor, "Sure thing."

I turned to Jasper last, he knew better than the others because of his unusual gift I didn't want comfort, that it wouldn't help. My pain consumed me so completely and I could see that it was taking all of the control Jasper had over his gift not to let it consume him as well. He smiled easily as he shook my hand and then hugged me. Good luck, I know you won't fare as well as you have been so far for long, he sighed. That warmed me a bit, that he was proud of me for keeping myself as together as I appeared to be. _I thought I was going to have to calm you down from the moment you stepped into the door._ There was the tiniest bit of dark humor in his thoughts.

Then they left, each bidding me a final good-bye and leaving to me to get things in order before I left. I didn't know where I would go yet, but that didn't really matter.

Just as long as I went.

* * *

**OKAY, NOW LET ME EXPLAIN BEFORE I GET YELLED AT!! **

**I was all for killing Bella when she went cliff diving, something about Jacob  
not making it in time to save her. However, we all know what happened  
when Edward THOUGHT she died. **

**Not to mention, I still need her for later in the story, so I couldn't kill her. **

**HOWEVER....**

**Neither did I make her choose Jacob (although I do admit I am Team Jacob where Bella is concerned)  
Being that I believe she has little to no personality, I am giving her a little more fortitude/strength to  
deal with being without Edward because I don't care how in love you are, you gotta respect yourself  
a little more than that instead of becoming a recluse. **

**And now I'd like to thank.... **_Serenity Blossom, Isabella M.C., twialleyholic-OCD, w8ing4rain_,  
**and **_Marebear007_**, for reviewing last chapter, thanks guys it means a lot!!!**

**Next chapter, Wren meets the Cullens, yay! **

**Please review! And please keep in mind, all flames will be laughed at.**

**-(gxr)-**


	6. Following the Thread

**Ch. 4 - Following the Thread**

_Ungained it may be, by a life's slow venture  
But then,  
Eternity enables the endeavoring  
__Again  
_- Emily Dickinson

I didn't realize I had let two years go by from the day I originally made the promise to track whoever was on the other end of the thread that had once connected me to Chicago. It only felt like a few months. But then again, in my unchanging state, it was understandable that months seemed to pass like days. So I finally decided that before I let another two years pass, I was going to find out who was on the other end of this thread.

I packed my things, changed into traveling clothes for I would go by foot as I had done for my entire existence. Yes, I liked fast cars, enjoyed driving them, but when I traveled I preferred to take my time, after all I had eternity, I might as well enjoy it. Luckily, I didn't feel like I was leaving much as I left my hometown once again

As I traveled across the country, it occurred to me that in my eight decades of worldly travel, I had not even explored the country I lived in. This realization hit me as I crossed into South Dakota, and I found it rather humorous. I had been to the deepest jungles of the Amazon, the frozen expanse of Siberia, the scorching outback of Australia and yet I had never been outside the state of Illinois. It entertained me to no end as I crossed state line after state line.

After about a week of traveling on foot, mostly during the night no less, I finally crossed into Washington. As I headed further instate I knew I was getting closer, whoever I was connected to had spent a great deal of time here and fairly recently as well because the thread was much easier to follow. The thread led me to a small town by the name of Forks, population just a little over three thousand, infinitesimal compared to Chicago. I understood the appeal of this town to a vampire, the atmosphere made it very clear. It seemed that the town was constantly under a cover of clouds allowing my kind to go out in the daylight without the worry of the sun causing our skin to glitter.

And speaking of which, I think I'd rather burn to ash in the sun than glitter. I mean, come on, how scary is that!? I'm a predator, everything about me is specifically designed to kill; predators _do not _glitter. True, in the animal kingdom many animals are brightly colored to warn that they are poisonous or otherwise lure in prey, but _glitter_? I am at the top of the food chain in this world, and I fucking shimmer in the sun like a crystal prism. Talk about your ego taking a hit.

Anyway, I weaved my way through the town following my thread that led me to the local high school, but the trace of whoever it was, was so weak I knew they had not been there in quite sometime. I was also led to the Chief of Police's home where their presence was slightly stronger, but again they had not been there in awhile. I was growing frustrated as I headed into the woods, thinking maybe I had it wrong, maybe this thread led to nothing at all. The woods soon grew unrelentingly thick and I was ready to give up when the trees grew more sparse and I saw a home ahead in a small clearing. I almost cried out in exuberance when I realized the presence of whoever I was following was the strongest here.

But my arrival seemed to be expected. Six of my own kind stood in a line before the home, facing me though I was hidden by the line of trees. They did not stand as though I were a threat, they seemed open and warm, welcoming. Still, my instincts told me it was better I stayed hidden until I was told it was alright for me to show myself.

The vampire who appeared to be the leader of the coven took a step forward from the line. He had an air about him that told me he must have been very kind for he had a gentle face and an easy going smile. But I could not help but feel that there was something… different about the vampires in this coven than the ones I had encountered in my life, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

I watched him cautiously, unsure of his next move. He had no gift that I could detect, but I felt that although he seemed kind, I should've been intimidated… I was still a newborn compared to him and it was by no means a small difference. He was centuries older than me.

After a few moments, he cleared his throat, "You can come out, you're welcome here, my dear."

I took a few steps forward, hesitating before I finally stepped into full light, but still staying a good distance back. The leader of the coven smiled gently at me, "There we go! My name is Carlisle Cullen, my family and I would like to welcome you to Forks, …?" he trailed off in a questioning tone, indicating that he did not know my name.

I swallowed, "Wren."

The smallest of them, pixie-like with hair spiked in every direction skipped up to me grinning broadly. She made a move to hug me, but I took half a step back, cautious. She seemed a bit put out at my actions, but it faded quickly and opted for sticking out her hand, "My name is Alice."

I stuck out my hand and grasped hers, "It's nice to meet you."

She had a gift as did the blonde boy who had been standing on her right, but I would not copy them until I knew what they were, it was rude. "I'll introduce you to everyone else," she offered. I was already beginning to like her, she was bubbly and perky.

Alice took me by the elbow and led me to the rest of her family. The boy that had been standing next to her was Jasper, her husband who said hello to me with a slight southern twang in his voice that was rather endearing as he bowed his head with a slight smile on his face.

Her sister, Rosalie had been standing on her left and she was truly beautiful even for a vampire, she was the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen. She had nodded curtly, but gave me a smug grin as she cooed her hello, knowing I must've been admiring her.

Rosalie's husband, Emmett, was next. In size, he reminded me of Felix, but in demeanor he was entirely other. He greeted me enthusiastically with a huge smile and a handshake that, had I been human, would've lifted me off the ground.

Last was their mother and Carlisle's wife, Esme. As she hugged me, I could not help but love her immediately. I don't think there's a more loving, caring person in the world. When she pulled back, she smoothed my hair back from my face and sighed happily, "Welcome, dear."

Smiling back at Esme, it occurred to me what was different about them. It was their eyes. All of their eyes were a warm, melted butterscotch gold. What would cause that, I wondered.

Carlisle clapped his hands together, "Well, come inside, it's bad enough we've kept you outside for as long as we have."

Alice laced her arm though mine and led me inside, still smiling widely while Emmett took my army duffel filled with my belongings. We walked into the living room where Alice pulled me down onto one of the white couches while Carlisle took an armchair and Esme stood behind it. Jasper came and sat on Alice's other side while Emmett and Rosalie stood in the doorway. If I hadn't been so well received by the Cullens, I would've been very nervous.

"Well, Wren, first things first I suppose, what can you tell us about yourself?" Carlisle asked, cordially.

This wasn't such an outrageous request, I was on their territory and they had invited me in. It was only respectful that I answered any questions that they had for me, after all, I had been through this same procedure countless times in my travels with the others of my kind that I had stayed with. They wanted to know if I was an exposure risk.

"Uhm, I was born and changed in my hometown of Chicago. I was turned in 1922 when I was nineteen," I told him.

"And your sire?" Esme asked.

I shook my head, "I know nothing about them. They didn't think I would survive because they drained me to the point that I should've died a mortal death, but my body's survival instincts would not let me and I endured and survived the change."

Carlisle nodded thoughtfully before he asked, "What have you been doing for the past eighty or so years?"

Smiling I replied, "Traveling, seeing the world. I was still only an infant when I began traveling and I only just returned to the states eleven or twelve years ago."

Again Carlisle nodded, but it was not him that asked me the next question, it was Jasper. "What brings you to Forks?"

I sighed, how was I going to explain this without sounding insane? "I'm… following someone… but I don't know who."

"You don't know who?" Rosalie scoffed.

I nodded, "I'm a Tracker, so anyone I meet I can find them again no matter where they are because I am connected to them by a… well, I call it a thread because that's what it seems like," I tried to explain as best I could. "The thread I'm following now has been connected to me since 1922, but I never tried to follow it before because it does not have anything to connect it with. It's almost as though I've met who it connects to, but I don't remember meeting them, and I am not quite old enough for my memory to be faulty."

"Hmm," Carlisle murmured. "Well, my dear, you are welcome to stay as long as you like, however… you may have noticed my family's eye color…"

"Yes, I was going to ask about that!" I exclaimed, suddenly very interested.

"It's a reflection of personal choice. I can tell from your eye color that you feed on humans, my family and I do not, we hunt strictly animals; their blood results in the change of eye color. If you plan on staying, I ask that you not hunt within a hundred miles of town," he said.

I nodded, "Of course, but if it would make you feel better I would not mind feeding the way you and your family do while I'm here. I'm accustomed to having to live off animal blood in my travels."

"Not many humans in the Congo?" Emmett joked.

Carlisle sighed what sounded like a sigh of relief, "Thank you, that would be much appreciated."

I merely nodded as Alice suddenly giggled beside me and hugged my arm tightly. "Now I can't wait for Edward to get home, you'll love him, I just know it!"

* * *

**Alright, Wren has met the Cullens! Yay! **

**Obviously, Edward wasn't there, sorry.  
BUT... Wren and Edward meet again in the next chapter when Edward comes home!! **

**And I'm really glad that no one really got their panties in a bunch  
about how I got rid of Bella. Thanks for that! lol.**

**So... I would like to thank **_w8ing4rain, twialleyholic-OCD, let'.marauding,  
Isabella M.C., Mrs. Cullen-VAMPIRE xoxo_, **and **_justanothergaarafangurl, _**for  
reviewing last chapter, thanks so much guys!! **

**So please review? **

**-(gxr)-**


	7. Homecoming

**Ch. 5 - Homecoming**

_This is the debt I pay  
Just for one riotous day,  
Years of regret and grief,  
Sorrow without relief.  
_- The Debt, by Paul Laurence Dunbar

I hit the brakes before passing the sign. I got out of my Volvo and stood with the door open, taking in the greenery around me. So far everything looked exactly the same. I took a deep breath, somewhat calmed by the fresh smell of the pine trees.

"Welcome to Forks!" the sign proclaimed proudly.

I had been gone for two years and it was good to be home.

I got back in the car and started the engine again, flooring it as soon as it roared to life. I was so eager to get home and see everyone again. I spent two years in solitude without even my cell phone, so no one could get a hold of me, but I knew Alice would be keeping tabs on me. Just like I knew she'd see me coming home.

I couldn't keep the smile off my face as I took the last hairpin turn at ninety miles an hour and gunned it to the house. The house came into view quickly and I had to laugh at the sight of it. Alice had gone all out for my homecoming. Colored lights were strung to the house and wrapped in some of the trees, and a massive "welcome home" sign was hanging on the garage, streamers made a bit of a web from the roof to the branches of the trees. I shook my head as I turned off my Volvo.

I stepped out of the car, swinging my key ring around on my finger surprised with the silence I was met with. Everyone must've been keeping their thoughts from me purposefully so they could surprise me. I took a deep breath taking in all the familiar scents of my family and one I faintly recognized, but it was as though it were from a distant memory.

I opened the front door and took another deep breath before entering, the new scent was stronger inside. Oddly enough it made my throat burn even though I had gone hunting before I came home. Why did I recognize this scent so much!?

I shook it off and looked around the darkened house, "Hello!"

No one answered, but I heard a voice in my head that didn't belong to any member of my family. The voice sighed, but it was an indulgent sigh, _I don't know why Alice suggested this, he can see perfectly in the dark anyway_.

I froze in place. The voice continued to ring in my ears. I _knew_ that voice, but I hadn't heard it in over eighty years.

_No, that's not possible! _I told myself urgently.

I hadn't heard that voice in over eighty years because it belonged to a human, and it wasn't possible because I killed the human that voice belonged to in 1922. But it came back to me, the new scent I didn't recognize, it was cinnamon and honey, her scent. Even now, I could still recall the taste of her blood perfectly and being reminded of it made venom pool under my tongue and my throat flame for it again.

Mechanically, I moved into the living room. As soon as I stepped in, the lights flicked on and my family jumped from their hiding places with a chorus of "Welcome home, Edward!"

Alice leapt over the couch and hugged me tightly, but I couldn't react yet. I scanned the room twice, but the only faces that stared at me were the faces of my family. I sighed, my imagination must've just been playing tricks on me, I decided as I hugged Alice finally.

_What's wrong with him?_ Rosalie wondered to herself, though she was ecstatic to see me.

The next couple of minutes were a blur of hugs and kisses and welcoming. Esme was an emotional mess, which I expected, she hugged me the tightest and the longest. Carlisle was just glad I was home, happy to see I was doing better, and I was; I was fantastic actually. Typical Emmett put me in a headlock while he welcomed me home and told me that he missed me, while Jasper just laughed. I was a little surprised when Rose kissed my cheek and welcomed me back so easily, I do admit.

"Oh! I nearly forgot, Edward, there's someone I want you to meet!" Alice said when everything had quieted down. The way she spoke made my stomach twist uncomfortably, because she spoke with the tone that told me she knew something I didn't.

And then it hit me, my entire family had been in the room when the lights flipped on and I hadn't seen one of them move. Someone _else _had turned on the lights. As Alice turned me around I still hoped it was my imagination, the smell, the voice… but that hope was gone when I took in the all too familiar curves of someone I thought I had killed eighty-seven years ago.

The skin that was once a healthy cream color was now alabaster white, and unlike I did eighty years ago, I would now likely never describe her muscles as weak. Her skin was perfectly smooth, and her muscles would be as strong as steel. Her dark hair spilled from her scalp and fell like black silk past her shoulders and down her arms. And again, I found myself wanting to touch her, but this time to find out if she was real. Thankfully, as she leaned against the doorframe, her eyes were still focused on the floor so she didn't see me staring at her.

"Edward, this is --"

I cut Alice off, taking everyone in the vicinity by surprise, "Wren Landon."

_How the hell -- _Her thoughts were abruptly cut short as her head shot up and recognition flashed in her burnt orange eyes, all emotion drained from her face as she pushed herself off the wall before her features were twisted and marred by fury. Wren clenched her teeth hard, "_You!_" she snarled. There was nothing human in her voice, nothing at all.

Her thoughts were indistinguishable with rage, but one thing was apparent, she wouldn't attack otherwise she would've done so by now. And even if she did, I wasn't entirely sure I would let anyone stop her. Her hands were fisted at her sides and she was shaking terribly. If I didn't know any better I'd have thought she was a shape-shifter about to phase.

"… You two… know one another?" Esme wondered cautiously.

Wren managed to control her anger for a moment, but whether she was doing it on her own or with Jasper's help, I wasn't sure. She turned her eyes to my mother and I prepared myself for what I knew Wren was going to tell her.

She licked her lips, "Esme, Carlisle, I'd like for you to meet my sire."

I heard Esme gasp and I flinched as if I had been hit while chaos erupted around me. Everyone began shouting and thinking all at once.

"Edward!"

_Ha! St. Edward turned someone --_

"How can she be sure…!?"

_How was that even possible --_

"Should've connected the dots with the date and city she gave…"

_Now it makes sense why she came here looking for someone, she's been looking for Edward --_

Carlisle finally noticed that I was standing with my hands pressed against my ears from all the noise and finally got everyone to calm down and stop screaming. Throughout the whole thing, however, the voice I did not hear was Wren's. I brought my gaze up, she had stopped shaking and was staring at the floor again, but her hands were still fisted at her sides.

Carlisle cleared his throat, "Wren are you entirely sure that Edward is the one that turned you?"

She scoffed, "Unless there was another vampire roaming Chicago in 1922 by the name of Edward Masen, I'm pretty damn sure the person in front of me is him." Then she reached into the collar of her shirt and pulled out a gold chain, holding the pendant between her fingers, "Recognize this?"

I gasped, "My mother's pendant. I thought it was gone."

Wren shook her head, "No, I found it when I woke up under the Michigan Avenue Bridge, where you left me!"

I hung my head, feeling horrid that I had abandoned her like that. "If I had known…" What was I going to tell her? "_If I had know you were going to change, I would've stayed"_? In all actuality, I would have preferred her to die than be condemned to this half-life as I was. I remembered in vivid detail that night, and I most certainly hadn't forgotten the way she had forgiven me when she thought I had only killed her.

Now, I was worse than the monster that had killed her.

I condemned an angel to hell.

I glanced up, taking in the expression on her face. Her eyebrows knitted together slightly and a small frown pulled at the corners of her lips. She was hurt. "How long have you been here?" I wondered.

"About a month," she answered, her voice still hard. "I hadn't been planning on staying this long, but I've been tracking you and it led me here, and I decided to stay when I realized you were coming back."

"You were tracking me?"

"In my defense, I didn't know it was you." _And now that I do, I wish I hadn't followed you. _

Wren sighed and closed her eyes for a moment and beside me Alice gasped, "No, please don't leave!"

She opened her eyes and chuckled bitterly as she turned to Alice with a small smile on her face, "I should… it's against the law to kill your sire."

_She won't, her anger's dying down and she doesn't have the conviction… she's just confused_, Jasper assured me.

Alice went rigid beside me, searching the near future for any signs that Wren might change her mind. I watched the scenes flash through my head as well, but she was going through them so quickly that I only caught glimpses, but from what I could tell, Wren wasn't going to leave.

Then she grinned and looked at Wren, "You won't do anything. Stay, please… I already know you will."

Wren rolled her eyes, "I don't know…" She was eyeing me cautiously, _I don't know how **Edward **would feel about me staying._

How did I feel about her staying? … I wanted her stay, surprisingly. She had been here for a month, gotten to know my family and as I searched their thoughts, I found that they thought nothing but pleasant things about her and if she left they'd all be disappointed to see her go. I would as well, I wanted to know her and I was caught off guard by the intensity of this desire. I wanted her to smile at me the way she smiled at the others of my family. I wanted her eyes not to darken when she looked at me…

"Stay," I said quietly.

Her eyebrows shot up, but she nodded, "… Alright. But I need to leave for a little bit, calm myself down." She turned and began to walk away, but something stopped her and she faced me again, "By the way Edward, no one's called me Wren Landon in years; I've been Wren Masen for thirty-five years now."

* * *

**Buwaha, I love Wren. :D  
So there you go, Wren and Edward meet again!! **

**Hmm... next chapter is in Wren's POV  
and Jacob makes an appearence. (I _loves_ Jacob, I can't help it; I'm a sucker for the underdog!)**

**And speaking of underdogs... SUPERBOWL SUNDAY! WOOT WOOT!!  
I am pumped!! {dances}**

**Anyhow... I would like to thank: **_Isabella M.C., twialleyholic-OCD, TFFDH,  
w8ing4rain, justanothergaarafangurl, Mrs. Cullen-VAMPIRE xoxo_, **and  
**_Pseudo Soul_ **(who is really the reason, I'm udating already because  
she made me laugh so hard with her review! I was gonna make y'all  
wait like another week!)**

**So, if this chapter gets great feedback I'll probably update a lot  
quicker, so review??**

**-(gxr)-**


	8. Nice, Normal Vampires

**Ch. 6 - Nice, Normal Vampires**

_Call me false, or call me free —  
Vow, whatever light may shine,  
No man on your face shall see  
Any grief for change on mine.  
Yet the sin is on us both —  
Time to dance is not to woo —  
Wooer light makes fickle troth —  
Scorn of me recoils on you !  
_- The Lady's Yes, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I think on some deep subconscious level, I always knew the "unconnected" thread would lead to my sire. It was the only thing that made sense because after all, I had met my sire before, but at the time I wasn't yet a vampire. I had always resented my sire for killing me first off and then leaving me, but I didn't expect the all-consuming rage that had swallowed me when I laid eyes on him again. And neither did Jasper for that matter because I watched as he tried to stop it from becoming his own, which is why I tried to control it as I had.

But as I stomped through the woods, I didn't have to control it; however, if I was going to be staying in the same house as the sire that abandoned me, I needed to get rid of it. Unfortunately, I couldn't take it out on the trees around me because I likely would've uprooted more than a few, I couldn't risk the potential exposure. Instead, I hunted (animals, like I promised Carlisle) and ran the entire length of the west coast.

I would've liked to have been exhausted or at least out of breath when I returned in the dawning hours of the next day, but being immortal brought with it an endless amount of energy and stamina. It bothered me sometimes, being unable to tire, to sleep; sure I could lie down and not move for a period of time, but it wasn't nearly the same because stillness was in my nature.

When I returned, I didn't go directly to the house, instead I wandered into the woods and climbed a tree. I sat on a narrow branch with my back against the large trunk, perfectly balanced. I had calmed down, I wasn't angry with Edward anymore, resented him, yes; angry, no. Instead, I turned my anger inward, toward myself because my human memory of Edward hadn't done him the least bit of justice. Everything about that boy was beautiful, and I hated myself for thinking so.

It was late morning when I decided it was a good idea to return to the Cullen's. I had gotten nowhere in my ponderings of how I was going to handle the situation, and had decided it was better to play it by ear. I dropped to the ground, landing as light as a butterfly and made to return to the house, but my senses picked up someone else's presence. Not to mention the smell, dear lord, it was horrific! I was surprised I wasn't gagging because of the potency.

I turned, finding someone leaning against the tree I had been in. The odor seemed to emanate from him, but I didn't understand, I smelled… dog, and he most certainly was human.

"So," he stated, bringing his deep set, dark eyes to my face, "you're the new blood-sucker in town, huh?"

I bristled, how did he know? _Best to play it safe, be on guard_. I laughed trying to make it sound a bit confused as if I hadn't understood the joke, "I'm sorry?"

His eyes narrowed, "Don't even try," he growled.

"Look, I don't know if you think you're being funny, but I for one --"

"Wren…" I turned as Edward emerged and strolled to my side. Alice must've told him to come. He placed his hand on my shoulder and seemed surprised when I didn't shrug it off, "it's alright." Then he turned to the dark-skinned boy, who simply narrowed his eyes further. "Jacob," he said, nodding in acknowledgment.

Jacob snorted and crossed his arms over his chest, a defensive stance, "So _you're_ back are you?"

Again, Edward nodded, "I am."

Jacob jerked his head in my direction, "Who's she?"

My jaw clenched, "Excuse me? I don't see how that matters the slightest bit to you!"

This time, Edward extended his hand to where my hands were at my side placed his fingertips gently on top of my wrist and I was surprised at how much this simple gesture calmed me. "She's staying with my family for a time," he replied smoothly. "She won't be any trouble, she's promised to conform to my family's diet while she's here."

So this boy, Jacob, did know what I was. My question, however, was how did he know?

"For a time? She's been here for a month." Jacob's eyes flickered back to me for a moment and he scoffed, pushing himself off the tree. "… Whatever. You better keep an eye on her, Cullen, if she slips up… it's on you." Then he turned and disappeared into the trees.

_What the fuck was that about!?_

I stared after him, suddenly wishing that Jane was with me, if only for her gift. Beside me, Edward sighed and absently scratched his temple, "Well, that was interesting," he said, more to himself. He turned toward me, "Are you alright?"

I hadn't taken my eyes off the direction Jacob had left. "Fine," I muttered. "You wanna tell me how he knows what we are?"

Edward chuckled, "The bizarre thing about this small town: it seems to attract everything involving the weird and supernatural… Jacob belongs to the Quileute tribe, descendant from a long line of shape-shifters… long story short… he's a werewolf."

I raised an eyebrow, mildly surprised even though I knew I shouldn't have been. After all, I was a vampire. And if vampires existed, their natural enemy had to exist as well to keep the balance of the world. Good can't exist without evil. But who was good and who was evil, well, that remains a matter of opinion.

"Vampires, werewolves… don't tell me Harry Potter comes around whenever he's feeling froggy too."

"Not yet," he joked.

Without a word, I turned and began walking back to the house, if he and I stayed out there by ourselves I knew where the conversation would eventually head and I wasn't entirely sure I was ready for that yet. I didn't want to hear him apologize for accidentally turning me because I wasn't ready to forgive him for that, but something told me he was an expert at being contrite and asking for forgiveness, and I would give it to him if he asked. I knew exactly what would happen after that, he would try and "make-up" for the past eighty-years by trying to learn my life-story, trying to get to know me too quickly which would only aggravate me more. I didn't want to dislike Edward, I just needed to get past my predisposed contempt for us to even try and be friends.

He walked exactly four steps behind me, perfectly in step with me the entire way back to the house. I needed a shower, I decided as I held open the door for Edward who mumbled a polite "thank you". My boots were covered in mud, and I just realized I was also streaked with it since it had decided to rain in Oregon as I was passing through. I was halfway up the stairs when Edward called my name softly.

I paused, debating whether or not to acknowledge him or pretend I hadn't heard. Unfortunately, in the same second I was debating that, my body made up my mind for me because I found myself pivoting toward him. He was holding the banister, looking up at me expectantly one hand in the pocket of his jeans.

"Yes?"

His lips pursed into a thin line and his eyebrows knitted together for a moment, I thought maybe he had forgotten what he was going to say when he took a breath and asked, "Do you still sing?"

Shocked was a bit of an understatement. I felt my eyebrows slam together as I looked him over, was he serious? I looked over the smooth planes of his face for any hint of jest, to my ire, he was entirely genuine, like a curious child. The muscles of my face relaxed and I answered honestly, "I haven't in a really long time."

The corner of Edward's mouth twisted into a half-frown, "That's a shame… you have such a beautiful voice."

And then he headed into the living room and was gone. I stood on the steps for a moment longer, more than a little confused. With a groan of indignation that I know everyone in the house heard, I muttered, "You'd think that in a small town I'd find nice, _normal_ vampires, but no-o! One is a doctor, three of them have gifts, they associate with werewolves and to top it all off… they don't drink human blood!"

As I closed the bathroom door, I heard Emmett roar with laughter. I'm glad he found it entertaining.

I turned on the water and stepped in after I stripped off my clothes. I must've just turned on the hot water because it was warm as it pitter-pattered against my marble skin. As a vampire, showers weren't as relaxing and fulfilling as they were when I was human. Now, it was literally a "get in, get out" process. Since I didn't sweat, I didn't smell which made soap pretty much pointless, though I still used it out of habit. My hair never dried out, obtained split ends or other damage so shampoo and conditioner was a waste. I didn't have to shave because my legs and under my arms were perfectly smooth.

I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around me from the linen closet in the bathroom. Like I did the first time I opened the linen closet, I couldn't help but laugh because they really did have all the props of being human: Q-tips, alcohol, peroxide, band-aids, there was even a pack of toilet paper sitting at the bottom of the closet.

Carrying my clothes while clutching the towel, I strolled to the guest bedroom at the end of the hall that Esme and Carlisle graciously lent me. It was simple, eggshell colored walls and an oak bedroom set. I cursed under my breath while I dug into my army duffel for clothes, only to realize the clothes I had gone running in were my last clean set. I fisted my hands on my hips and turned around, seeing the small pile of clothes sitting on the large couch for me.

I smiled and walked to the door, opening it just enough to stick my head out, "Thanks, Alice!"

"No problem!" she chirped in return.

* * *

**Okay, there's chapter six!! Woot!!  
And I told you Jake would make an appearance,  
I know he's a little grumpy, but...  
wouldn't you be too if the girl you loved  
left her boyfriend and STILL wouldn't be with you?  
Also let's keep in mind, there is no Nessie in my story. so yeah.**

**I'm mildly cranky today. :( **

**Uhm... after I post this, I'm going to tweak my homepage  
and add information about this story as well as a  
character concept for Wren so please go check it out!!  
The link is on my bio page!**

**And now, I would like to thank...  
**_greeneyes08, SapphireJKH, Isabella M.C., w8ing4rain, Pseudo Soul,  
twialleyholic-OCD, Mrs. Cullen-VAMPIRE xoxo_,** and** _justanothergaarafangurl  
_**for reviewing last chapter! Thanks guys, you make me so happy!!**

**Uhm... oh! I opened my Beta Profile so if you're interested, let me know!**

**Please review? It'll make me feel better!!**

**-(gxr)-**


	9. Circumvent

**Ch. 7 - Circumvent**

_Some say the world will end in fire,  
Some say in ice.  
From what I've tasted of desire  
I hold with those who favour fire.  
But if it had to perish twice,  
I think I know enough of hate  
To say that for destruction ice  
Is also great  
And would suffice.  
_**- **Fire and Ice_,_ by Robert Frost

Wren was like a ghost the next couple weeks, or at least she was whenever it concerned me. I don't think she and I have had a ten minute conversation since I've been home, it seemed that she knew whenever I was looking for her. I couldn't help but find it a bit ironic, the fact that even though we were now the same, I still repelled her maybe even more than when she was human. I would see her interacting with the members of my family, laughing and joking with Emmett, letting Alice use her as a Barbie doll (with no complaints surprisingly), easily holding a conversation with Carlisle and I was _jealous_. Savagely so.

Why was I the only one she interacted with when she _had_ to? What was even more irritating was that she kept her thoughts from me, whenever she was around me and I tried to push into her thoughts, she was always reciting a poem, or saying a nursery rhyme, or the lines of a play.

It was beyond confounding and more than infuriating.

"Come in," Alice told me, before I could even knock on her bedroom door. I opened the door finding her curled on the chaise longue flipping through a fashion magazine. She glanced up and grinned coyly, "Hi Edward."

I smiled and sat on the end of the chaise longue, "Alice you seem pretty close with Wren, has she told you why she seems to be avoiding me?"

She closed the magazine, tossing it onto the pile on the floor. "You might get a better answer out of Jasper, tell you the truth, she's closer to him."

"Jasper?"

The look on my face must've been funny because Alice laughed, "Yeah. They're both new to the vegetarian diet and struggle with it, Wren more so than Jasper, but he helps her."

I sighed, I couldn't go talk to Jasper at the moment, he was out with Emmett and Wren doing who knows what. "I know you can tell me _something_, Alice."

_I could, but you probably won't like it_

"Alice…"

Alice's eyes clouded over and she went rigid as she searched the future. She focused on Wren, the first visions were very solid, in the immediate future. After that, they became hazy with a degree of uncertainty, but they all headed in the same direction, one I wasn't sure I was ready for. All of Alice's future visions depicted Wren and I becoming very close, but there was no way to tell the timeline of her visions. The visions faded from my mind as Alice released them.

"I told you," she whispered.

I shook my head, unsurprised that everyone, including Alice, doubted me when I told them I was okay. "It's fine Alice."

"I can tell you how she is avoiding you so well though," she said with a grin. I leaned in, intrigued, "She's copying your gift… and mine, actually."

"… What?"

"Wren has a gift, she's a Mimic, she can copy anyone's gift and use it as her own," Alice explained.

Well no wonder I could never find her when I wanted to talk to her! She'd see me looking for her in a vision and hear me in my own thoughts. She had all the forewarning that she needed to avoid me. The girl was clever, I'd give her that.

"Well, I'll be," I mumbled, slightly chuckling. I was impressed, I had to admit. The problem was, however, that I still wanted to talk to her and get to know her, spend some time with her the way everyone else has; I was going to have to find someway to circumvent both mine and Alice's gift in the hands of another in order to do that.

"Edward, what are you planning?" Alice asked me.

I smirked at my sister before standing and leaving her room. I was deeply intrigued with Wren's fervid determination to avoid me, and a bit… hurt as well. Why was I such a pariah compared to everyone else? The hunter in me planned and planned as I walked into my bedroom. My family had a hunting trip this upcoming weekend, and Wren had declined the offer to accompany us. The reason she gave was that it was a family trip and she didn't want to impose…

"I think I found my circumvention…"

_After all, someone has to make sure she doesn't slip up…_

****

-:-

The day for my family and I to leave finally came and as far as everyone knew, I was going on the trip, my determination was set so if Wren was copying Alice's gift she'd see my concrete decision to go with them. I kept my thoughts quiet though it was irritating, knowing that if Wren was copying my gift at any given moment she'd hear my voice in her head. She'd hear me think how lovely I thought she looked dressed in the dark jeans and cream colored sweater Alice bought her on her most recent shopping excursion.

Wren's eyes suddenly turned in my direction with a puzzled expression on her face though an amused grin tugged at the corners of her mouth. Oops. She laughed at the chagrin on my face, placing a tent in the back of Emmett's jeep. Rose raised an eyebrow at her outburst, but Wren merely shook her head. At least I could make her laugh.

Carlisle and Esme were last out of the house. Esme hugged Wren, and kissed her forehead "If you get lonely, I'm sure you can find us."

Carlisle curled his forefinger in the one stray baby curl of her hair, and I realized that both of them had come to love her. Whether Wren knew it or not, she was a Cullen now. "No wild parties while we're gone," he told her, smiling with mirth at his own dark joke. They both knew what would happen if Wren threw a "wild party", I didn't know the strength of Wren's control, but it would not hold up against the blood of that many humans.

Her nose wrinkled as she pushed Carlisle's hand away though she was smiling, "Have fun."

"Are you sure you won't come?" Rose asked her.

She shook her head, "Not this time."

Rosalie frowned deeply as she turned back in her seat. Emmett climbed into the driver's seat while Jasper and Alice got in with Carlisle and Esme. The engine roared to life easily and Emmett whooped loudly as he peeled out of the driveway. Wren was still standing on the front porch waving until we were out of sight.

We were a couple miles from the house when I told Emmett to pull over. He looked at me in the rearview, obviously confused but did it anyway. "What's up bro?" he asked, as I climbed out of the back.

Carlisle stopped his car and got out, _What's wrong Edward?_

"I'm not coming," I announced.

"What? Why?" Jasper wondered, stepping out as well.

"C'mon, man!" Emmett pleaded.

I shrugged, "Someone has to make sure Wren doesn't slip up," I explained.

"She won't do anything, I should know," Alice insisted.

Surprisingly, Jasper was the one that saw through my façade. He rolled his eyes, _She won't be happy, you know, not at all. Especially not that you went through all this scheming._

I nodded subtlety, hearing Rosalie scoff behind me. "I'd rather be sure," I said.

Carlisle sighed, "If you think it's for the best."

With nothing more than a nod, I ran back to the house already feeling accomplished with what I had done. I was proud of myself, sure, but also anxious with the thought of getting to spend alone time with Wren. Finally, after two months of her being there, and almost a month now of my being home I was going to spend time with her.

I was surprised when I neared the house to hear the music playing loudly from the inside. When I opened the front door I could feel the sound reverberate through the wood and through the soles of my shoes. I found Wren laying casually on a couch in the living room, legs crossed with one foot bouncing to the beat with a book in her hand.

Oddly, she seemed unsurprised to find me standing in the doorway when she lifted her head. "I thought you were going hunting with your family?" she said bitterly, I could hear her perfectly despite the music.

"Someone had to make sure you didn't decide to stray from your diet," I told her.

Wren sat up abruptly, snapping the book shut. Her eyes blazed as she looked at me. They were no longer burnt orange, but bronze, a few more weeks of animal blood and they would be completely golden. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't lie to me," she sneered, standing and crossing to the entertainment system to turn it off. I had insulted her with the insinuation that she could not control herself.

She cowed me with that and I suddenly was rather ashamed of what I had done, deceived her the way I had. "I just wanted to talk to you, get to know you," I told her. "I mean, for chris'sakes, we've lived in the same house for almost a month and barely spoken a word to one another, Wren!"

Wren tossed the book onto the table with a tired sigh as if my very presence exhausted her. She squeezed the bridge of her nose, "You waste your effort, Edward," she chided. "Did it ever occur to you that I don't want you to get to know me? That I don't want to spend time with you?" Then she changed her wording "… I'm not ready to know you, Edward."

She glided past me gracefully, up the stairs and to the room that had become hers. She had spoken evenly, calmly, but she gave away her frustration when she slammed the door with enough force that I heard it splinter.

* * *

**Here's chapter seven! Although I am rather upset  
about the reviews, or lack there of that the last chapter got!  
Come on guys!! **

**I want to thank everyone that reviewed last chapter, you guys are awesome!!**

**Please review? **

**-(gxr)-**


	10. Differences

**Ch. 8 - Differences **

_What I thought was an end turned out to be a middle.  
__What I thought was a brick wall turned out to be a tunnel.  
__What I thought was an injustice  
__turned out to be a color of the sky._  
- A Color of the Sky, by Tony Hoagland

"… Edward?" I looked up, shocked at seeing Wren standing at the other end of the piano well into the early hours of the next day before dawn broke. Maybe what surprised me the most was the fact that she wasn't looking at me angrily, she looked anxious actually.

"Yes?" I asked, my hands never leaving the keys.

She swallowed and my hands fumbled remembering that night eighty years ago when her throat moved just like that, and recalling what I had wanted to do to her when it had. "Why do you want to get to know me?" Wren inquired.

… What?

I didn't understand. Had I exhausted her with my persistence to the point of concession? But looking at her, I realized this was no concession. Wren was looking for a specific answer, she was testing me, trying to determine if my intentions for wanting to get to know her weren't merely because I was her sire. Would it make her feel better if I told her I was driven by guilt? Or would she rather hear that it was because of something I couldn't explain, that I was drawn to her.

I took a breath to answer, but she stopped me, "And I swear if you're going to tell me that it's because you want to 'make up' for the eighty years you didn't know I existed, then I will turn around, walk back upstairs and shut myself in my room until everyone comes home on Monday morning."

I laughed despite myself, but didn't answer immediately. I tried to read her mind, but there was nothing but silence; no poems, no rhymes. If I knew what she wanted to hear it would make this infinitely easier. Would she accept if I answered her question with one of my own?

"Depends on the question," she answered my unspoken thought with a smirk.

"Why don't you want me to know you?"

"A lot of wards don't believe their sires have the right to know them after what they took. They resent and hate their sires for what they did," she replied immediately. It didn't really answer my question, but I still understood.

I looked down, "_Do_ youhate me?"

I didn't know that I wanted to hear the answer to my question. I wasn't sure how it would affect me if Wren said she hated me. If she hated me, there was no way I'd ever get close to her, Alice's visions be damned. It was nerve racking, the short silence that ensued because I didn't know how she would answer until, finally, she sighed, "No, Edward, I don't hate you."

_Thank you._

I closed my eyes tightly, recognizing what a gift she had just given me by telling me that she didn't hate me when she had every right to. I had taken her life from her and although I had (unknowingly) given her a new one, it would never compare to her human life. She'd had a life, a family, a job and in a single night I had taken all of that from her and given her nothing in return.

My circumstances were different, my human life had been over. My mother and father had both died and if I had somehow survived my illness, I had nothing to go back to. Carlisle hadn't taken anything from me when he changed me, but had given me so much more.

"So, why do you want to get to know me?" Wren asked again, leaning against the piano. "And please don't lie to me."

"Well, it would be a lie if I said that part of it wasn't out of guilt. But the larger part is that you're so open with my family and yet so closed off with me and I wonder why. Everything about you makes me wonder why, and I want the answers to those questions," I answered. "And it's frustrating that you're trying to hinder me so vivaciously from quenching my curiosity."

"Curiosity killed the cat, Edward," Wren warned.

I smirked, "Ah, but it was satisfaction that brought it back."

Wren laughed once as she rounded the end of the piano and then came and sat beside me on the bench, something I didn't expect her to do. From the way she had been acting toward me, I was surprised when she stayed in the same room as me for more than ten minutes. It seems I had given her an answer that she liked even if it wasn't the one she was looking for. Lifting her hand, she delicately pressed a few notes from the piano and for a glorious second, I thought she might sing, but she lowered her hand back to her lap instead.

"Before you came back, before I knew you were my sire -- when you were simply Alice's brother, I didn't want to know you," she admitted quietly, as if it shamed her.

The tone she was speaking in, the way she deliberately kept her eyes on the piano keys, I knew she was about to tell me something personal. Maybe the reason she disliked me so wasn't simply because I was her sire, perhaps it was something deeper. I prayed that it was something we could get around.

"Why?" I pressed.

She took a deep breath and held it in her chest for a moment before releasing it. "Alice told me about… your… Bella. Your blood singer…"

I tensed, going completely rigid beside Wren. I was suddenly livid. _Why_ would Alice tell _her_ about _Bella_? The pain came unexpectedly, stretching across my entire body, cinching my chest and strangling my un-beating heart. My thoughts were rampant with the whys, wherefores and when's. What gave Alice the right to tell Wren something so personal about me? And for that matter, what right did Wren have to bring it up?

I didn't realize I was shaking until I felt Wren's hand on my arm. I turned my glare in her direction, but she didn't shrink back like I expected her to. "Edward, please…" she begged, meeting my glare with a pleading gaze.

Her eyes hadn't changed one bit from when she was a human. True, they were no longer the blue they had once been, but they were exactly the same. And for a second time, it was the look in her eyes and the expression on her face that spared her my wrath.

I nodded, trying my best to swallow my anger while I told her, "Go on."

Wren took her hand off my arm and returned it to her lap, "When Alice told me, I didn't want to know you because I was… jealous."

This cooled my anger quickly being replaced with my confusion, "Jealous?"

She nodded, "Yes, of your control, to have been with someone whose blood pulsed specifically for you and for you to resist it for so long and not heed the siren's call."

"Why would you be envious of my control?" I asked, but she didn't answer. Wren just looked at me and suddenly, horribly, I understood, "You killed your blood singer."

Wren breathed a harsh laugh, "Killed seems like such a tame word for what I did to him." She took a breath that filled her frame and let it out, sagging as it left her lungs, "His name was Michele, he was a painter I met in France."

"What happened?"

"…. I was doing well until one day about six months after we met. I was in his studio and he was making the frame for his next canvas painting, and he missed the nail with the hammer and hit his finger instead; the fingernail split right open. I was all the way across the room when it happened, but as soon as he saw his own blood he knew he was dead. I was sobbing as I drained him and all the while he kept telling me that he forgave me and that he loved me until he couldn't speak anymore," Wren told me quietly.

Now I understood her envy. She believed that if she had better control she either would've had enough restraint to leave the room, or worse, had enough self-possession to draw back in time and change him.

Selfishly, I wondered if Wren would be sitting beside me if she had succeeded in changing him.

"The worst thing about it," she continued, driving me from my self-centered reverie, "is that all these years later, I can still taste his blood in my mouth. It will not go away, even now just thinking about it, I feel like I haven't hunted in days."

I turned toward her in shock because I knew that feeling; I knew that feeling exactly. _Wren's_ blood still tasted fresh in my mouth whenever I thought about it, even for a second. I remembered the immediate relief the first taste brought to my burning throat. I remembered how the scent of the blood of the other humans around me had become tolerable while hers burned in my nose. Perhaps worst of all, I remembered the way her body felt against mine, the way she clung to me.

There was a distinct difference between the first time I saw and smelled Wren and the first time I saw and smelled Bella. Bella had been my true blood singer because the scent of her blood affected me worse than the scent of Wren's. But I hadn't _wanted_ Bella the same way I had wanted Wren, that came later, with Wren it was immediate. If it hadn't been for the scent of her blood, I would've seen Bella as unremarkable as every other human, but Wren had captured my attention before I caught the scent of her.

Briefly, I wondered if I had still been human when I met Wren all those years ago, if I would've ended up with her. Had she been my human soul mate, the woman I was supposed to marry, have children with and die beside? If so, what did that make her now that we weren't human?

What if Wren's accidental change wasn't an accident at all, but fate?

* * *

**Oookkkay, that's chapter 8!  
And we find out that Wren had a blood singer, but sadly killed him. **

**Next chapter is the continuation of the convo at the piano in Wren's POV.  
(Does anyone notice that I try and keep Edwards and Wren's POV's somewhat even?  
Like if I do two in his, then I follow with two in hers?)**

**Uhhmmm.... OH!  
I have updated my homepage, there is now a character concept of Wren, including some  
information about her as well as some more information on this story! GO CHECK IT OUT  
THE LINK IS ON MY BIO PAGE!! **

**Annd now onto reviews!! I would love to thank: **_twialleyholic-OCD, A Dahlia For Bree,  
Mrs. Cullen- VAMPIRE xoxo, Isabella M.C., justanothergaarafangurl, Edward'sGirlForEternity,  
_**and** _w8ing4rain_** for reviewing, thanks SO MUCH guys, it really means a lot and keep it up!! **

**OH! ONE MORE THING THAT I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT!! **

**I got a review not that long ago that said this: _"...why is bella dead?? ...  
if you made wren bella, then you would have SO many more people reading this storyy!  
not many people like another character with edward" _and I would like to address it...  
First off, Bella _IS NOT DEAD_! Second, I didn't just "make wren bella" because I hate Bella  
****and like my character more. Third, I don't care if more people would read the story if I did that  
I really don't write for other people, I write for me and if people happen to like what I write,  
then that's fantastic! **

**Anyway, please review!? :D **

**-(gxr)-**


	11. Keepsake

**Ch. 9 - Keepsake **

_I am learning to abandon the world  
before it can abandon me.  
Already I have given up the moon  
and snow, closing my shades  
against the claims of white.  
_- I Am Learning To Abandon The World, by Linda Pastan

I took a calming breath, feeling my lungs shake after I dispelled the information I did to Edward. My hands were curled in my lap, my thumbs rubbing the backs of my hands. I didn't enjoy telling Edward about Michele, I didn't enjoy telling anyone about him, but I felt that it was necessary for him to understand my hesitation when it concerned any friendship he and I may have. Mainly because unfortunately, copying Edward's gift meant that I could see Alice's visions in her head as well, which is why I tried to distance myself from him to prevent them from happening.

Edward had turned me, taken my life and yet he was still better than me. He hadn't killed the one he existed for, drained them dry; not a single drop left to even hope for a change. But I did. I stayed for three days hoping, praying to whatever God that didn't forsake me for what I was, that Michele would turn and be my mate. But after three days, long after full rigor set in, I had to give up hope.

I didn't love another until my time in Volterra. It was Demetri, he reminded me so much of Michele that I couldn't help but be drawn to him. Our relationship was complex and unfair to him because he felt more for me than I did for him. Not that there was any lack of affection, I did love him, but he wanted me for eternity, something I wasn't ready to give.

"How did you come to terms with losing him?" Edward wondered.

I took a breath, "Who said I'm over it?"

He turned to me, a confused expression pinching his eyebrows together and making his mouth turn downwards into a frown. "Then how do you live with it?"

I raised my hand to the piano keys and played the first few notes to _Together We Will Live Forever_ composed by Clint Mansell. It was a painfully beautiful, sad song of love lost and shattered hopes, dreams that would never come true. And at the same time it was such a hopeful song, telling the eternal promise that together everything will be okay, everything will work itself out. I may be a so-called "mythical" creature, but I know first hand, those kinds of things don't happen.

I stopped playing abruptly, "I don't let the pain of losing him control me or rule my life. If I did, I'd lose my mind; I'd find a way to cut my eternity short."

Edward chuckled bitterly, "You make it sound so easy."

"I didn't say it was. If it were easy, I wouldn't think about him everyday; wonder what it would be like if he were still alive, if he had chosen one day to be my mate," I corrected him.

Something must've clicked for Edward as I said that because he sat up a little straighter and a look of realization passed in his eyes. He turned to me again, "You haven't sung since he died."

I shook my head, smirking a bit. _Am I that transparent?_

Beside me, Edward shook his head as well. _No, you're not. That night at the club, when you started to sing it transformed you; it looked as though singing kept you going. That's not something you give up unless it has a painful memory attached to it._

He wasn't wrong, Michele loved for me to sing while he painted; it calmed him, he said. After he died, I couldn't find it in me anymore to sing. Aro got me to sing once or twice since then and though my voice had changed when I turned, become more ethereal, to me, my voice sounded strained from the effort with years of disuse. And whenever I sang it just brought back Michele's memory, and his memory came coupled with the pain, there was no way to avoid it.

Even now sitting beside Edward, I wanted nothing more than to start sobbing, but I kept myself composed as best I could. If Jasper were here, he'd sigh and tell me I was being stupid for keeping it in, because he knew better than anyone the potency of my despair surrounding Michele, that and before I told Edward, Jasper was the only one who knew. But I didn't think I deserved to be miserable over my loss because I had caused it. I had taken the one beautiful and perfect thing in my dreary, cheerless eternity and massacred it.

"Why did you tell me?" Edward wondered.

I felt my lips pull into a smile as I brushed my bangs away from my face. "Perhaps to help you understand me better," I replied. "Or perhaps, I felt compelled to tell you, honestly, I don't know the answer myself."

With a final sigh, I stood from the piano bench, "You play beautifully, by the way."

"Thank you."

I smiled at him and was a bit alarmed when his eyes lit up in delight and a smile slid across his face as well. Shaking away the thought that started to form before Edward could hear it, I turned away from him and began to leave the room. With what I just told him, I shouldn't be thinking anything of the sort. I shouldn't even be thinking _anything_ about the sire that dumped me and forgot me.

"I didn't forget you, Wren," Edward snapped, his tone clipped.

I couldn't help the scoff that escaped my lips before I could stop it. Turning, I said, "Oh?"

Edward's butterscotch eyes met mine with such an intensity that I was frozen for a moment -- the expression on my face, the thought in my head, even the breath in my lungs. With sudden purpose, Edward stood from the bench and in an instant he was in front of me, but that instant was all I needed to regain myself. I tilted my head back slightly to meet his eyes with a doubtful stare, but his eyes were soft, mournful almost.

"I didn't forget you," he assured me softly. I had never paid much attention to the string of leather that was wound twice around his left wrist so it would make sense that I never noticed the silver charm that hung from it. "I couldn't forget you if I tried," he said, holding the charm up with a finger placed underneath it.

Edward untied the string from his wrist so I could hold it. I turned the cross over and sure enough, along the vertical shaft of the cross the words "_To my beautiful songbird_" were engraved. It was my cross.

I placed my hand over my mouth, "My father gave me this for my sixteenth birthday, he and my mother saved for a year, he said," I told him, my voice choked with emotion. "Why do you have it?"

Edward looked down, "I thought you were dead so I took it."

I wanted to be angry with him for taking the thing I had prized the most in my human life, but I couldn't. "Why?"

"At the time, I took it because it was shiny and caught my attention," he said, grinning wryly before becoming serious again. "… After you, I didn't kill another innocent and your cross reminded me why, I couldn't stand myself for what I had done to you, so your cross became mine to bear." Edward shrugged, "In a way, it wasn't only Carlisle that helped me adjust to the alternative diet."

He hadn't forgotten me.

All this time I managed to make myself believe that I had meant nothing to my sire, that I was merely another meal. In reality, this was not the case at all, Edward kept part of me with him for almost nine decades; a constant reminder of what he had done to me. And it wasn't just because he felt guilty, I realized as I used his own gift on him, Edward kept my cross because he thought _someone _should remember me, so why not him? My family would've given up searching for me after a time, assume I was dead and gotten a headstone. Their human memories would have faded over time and I would've been forgotten, but Edward's mind was sharper and would remember me, likely, until the world caved in around him.

If I were arrogant enough, I could take partial credit for the way Edward was today. I was the last innocent he killed, meaning I was his last "casual", spur-of-the-moment, human meal. As Edward told me that, the memories flitted across his mind briefly of his "vigilante" days, when he was on his own, but other than that he controlled his more deplorable side when among the general population. When a human had smelled deliciously appetizing, he remembered the cross that hung from his wrist, remembered me, and walked away.

"Please," Edward whispered suddenly. I looked up, meeting his puckered expression, "Believe me when I say that I hadn't wanted to… feed… on you."

This, I knew already. I knew it from the moment I had lost consciousness, before I started to change. I watched the memory of my murder play through Edward's mind, and the same emotions he felt that night flashed across his face and through his eyes, it was obviously not a memory he relived very often. I waited for the memory to play out because for some reason, unlike the memories of the time he spent by himself, he couldn't seem to make this memory go by faster.

That night was perfectly preserved in his memory, every sound, every sight… every smell. I watched from Edward's point of view: his determination not to harm me, that he was worried about my well-being and his mixture of terror, shock, and exultation when I cut my hand open. The scene faded from his mind slowly as he withdrew and dropped me, and the way Edward felt in his memory reflected what I had seen in his eyes that night.

I licked my lips, a nervous habit from when I was human that I hadn't managed to break. Gently, I curled my fingers toward the palm of my hand, enclosing the silver cross in my hand. I picked up his hand with my free one and placed the cross back in his hand, then closed his fingers over it. Edward looked at our hands, seeming unsure of what to say, confused even.

I felt my chest tighten with a not so pleasing cocktail of shame and guilt for the way I had thought of Edward as my sire, but I swallowed it forcing myself to smile. Then I surprised myself, and no doubt Edward as well when I leaned forward and pressed the lightest, barely there kiss on his cheek.

"I do believe you, Edward," I told him.

I turned and finally continued on my way back to my room. "I was giving this back to you," he called.

I smirked and pivoted three-quarters of the way toward him, "I want you to keep it," I said sincerely. Then my smirk turned into an all around, ear to ear, grin, "Besides, you might stray from your diet without it."

Edward's mouth quirked into his crooked smile as he shook his head and turned back to the piano. As I headed back up the stairs, I heard the first few notes of the song I had played echo behind me.

* * *

**Yay Wren's POV... my poor character. I'm so mean to my OC's XP  
.... Next chapter is also in Wren's POV and guess who makes a special appearance!?  
Well... I'm not gonna tell you :P **

**And I'm so pumped, in a couple chapters we'll actually start to get into  
the conflict of the story, and I'm super excited!! You should be too, it'll be good! :D**

**Annd now onto my favorite part! I want to thank everyone that reviewed the last chapter!  
**_LPdreamer08, SapphireJKH, Isabella M.C., Mrs. Cullen- VAMPIRE xoxo, twialleyholic-OCD_,  
**and** _w8ing4rain_, **you guys rock!! **

**Please review!? I update quicker if I get lots of reviews! ;D **

**-(gxr)-**


	12. Petty Humanity

**Ch. 10 - Petty Humanity**

_Cruelty has a human heart  
And jealousy a human face,  
Terror the human form divine,  
And secrecy the human dress._  
- A Divine Image, by William Blake

After the discussion that Edward and I had at the piano, things became slightly less tense between the two of us. The next day had been awkward because neither of us knew what it meant where our developing… friendship was concerned, so we mostly avoided one another that day. He stayed seated at the piano for most of the day, filling the empty house with music while I stayed in the living room reading, enjoying the soft tones Edward played.

It was late in the afternoon when there was a soft knock on the door. Edward was so concentrated on playing that he didn't hear it. I was a little confused, who would come to the house? It couldn't have been any of the Cullens because they weren't due back for two days, not to mention they would just walk in. Now, I had only been there for about two months, but in those two months no one came to the house.

I folded my book and placed it in the back pocket of my jeans as I headed to the door. As soon as I opened the door, I questioned my ability to stick to the vegetarian diet. The scent of fresh, sweet human blood almost knocked me from my feet. I tried to gather saliva in my mouth, but my mouth was filling with venom which only made my throat burn more. My vision focused on the pulsing artery at her neck, the scent hitting me again and again with every pulsation. My grip tightened on the door, I heard it whine in protest. I felt the muscle and sinew in my calves clench and unclench ready for me to pounce.

All of this happens within the same second that I opened the door and laid eyes on her terrified face.

I may have had better control of my natural instincts (developed by twenty years of living in Volterra ignoring blood when it was spilled in large quantities) than most of my kind, but that didn't change the fact that I was a vampire and living on the blood of animals could never fully slake the lust for _human_ blood. Human blood was pure and warm, rich and smooth; animal blood was thick and woodsy, bland and unsatisfying. This girl's blood was like a rare wine, perfectly aged and sweet and her fear as she took in the now charcoal depths of my eyes would only make her blood that much sweeter.

I could drain her, hide her body in the woods. I was new to the vegetarian lifestyle, very new, and the Cullens wouldn't hold this transgression against me. They'd understand, the girl took her life into her own hands coming here.

Thankfully, in the second after I caught her scent, just as I felt a growl rumble up my throat, an iron grip came around my elbow and spared her life. Edward must've heard my thoughts and come running. As he took in the girl on the front porch, his grip slackened just the tiniest bit and I knew if I fought hard enough, her blood would be mine.

"… Bella?"

_Oh shit. _I immediately stopped breathing, cutting off the oxygen supply to my lungs and swallowed the venom in my mouth. The relief was instantaneous, but I needed to feed otherwise not even Edward would stop me from draining the life from his precious Bella.

"… Edward? I-I thought you'd left…" she muttered, casting her wide eyes to me unsurely.

"I did. Why are you here?" Edward demanded, his grip tightening around my arm. He was not pleased to see her and he was taking it out on my arm.

Her eyes diverted to the floor, "I came to see Alice."

"… What?"

"Excuse me, I need to leave," I said in a tight voice, pulling my arm from Edward's grip.

He turned to me with panicked eyes, and I felt the whisper of his mind against mine. _Don't, please. _

_Edward, I **will** kill her if I don't leave and go hunt and you won't be able to stop me._

_And I might kill her if you leave and who's going to stop **me**!?_ he argued, the thought strangled with agony. It wasn't so much that he thought he would kill her, it was the pain of being around her again. At least if I were there, I offered some kind of buffer; a reason for him to keep his pain inside.

I shook my head and spoke lowly and quickly so only he would hear me, "I can't. I _have_ to go. I'm sorry."

I turned and ran from the house, the last thing I heard was Bella asking Edward, "Who's she?"

And Edward replying: "Nobody."

I stopped and breathed, letting my instincts take over. I needed to feed and some animal had better come across my senses soon before I went looking for a human. I breathed deep the scent of the woods, the brown scent of mud, the cleansing scent of pine and then -- I snapped my eyes open -- the musky scent of a herd of elk.

My body was the only thing about me that somewhat resembled human from the moment I caught the elks' scent. Hunting strictly animals is far different from hunting humans, I've learned. When you hunt a human, you can toy with them, still pretend be human until you take what you need from them. When you hunt an animal, you _are_ an animal. All human emotion and mannerisms are gone, compartmentalized and stored away somewhere within the psyche. Then suddenly with no emotion to hold you back, you're the most dangerous predator on the planet.

I crouched down, moving over the underbrush silently, the herd was only about a hundred and fifty yards away from me. They were at the bottom of a small incline, harmlessly grazing at the few plants that managed to push through the dirt. I leaned back, my hands buried in the dirt until I felt my heels press against the tree behind me.

_"Who's she?"_

_"Nobody."_

Nobody… Nobody… Nobody…

The snarl ripped through my lips before I could stop it and suddenly they were off. I growled in frustration and pushed myself off the tree trunk, hurling myself into the air to catch up with my meal. The slowest one was faster than me for all of seven or ten seconds before I jumped and grabbed the thing by it's jaw. Its head wrenched back and its body bucked, sending us both crashing to the ground. I would've been flung off if it hadn't been for my grip on the thing's antlers.

It struggled for a few moments and I took a hoof to the jaw as it flailed. I sank my teeth into its throat, holding it firmly in place until it stopped resisting. I raised my head after I was sure I had drained every drop, feeling the blood dripping down my chin and licked my lips.

_"Who's she?"_

_"Nobody."_

It wasn't enough, I could still hear Edward telling Bella that I was nobody, basically that I didn't matter. My human side was still too present for me to hunt properly; I was more bothered than I realized.

I needed to be drunk with blood.

****

-:-

I don't know how long I laid on the forest floor, but it was raining when I realized what was going on. I had gorged myself on three elk, a doe, a bear, and a mountain lion before I stopped hearing the interaction between Edward and Bella in my head. And now I didn't have the energy to get up, I didn't think I had the strength.

I felt like a heifer.

The rain was cooling as it pitter pattered against my face and arms, soaking me thoroughly. I closed my eyes and sighed, if I could just stay in the woods and not go back to the house, I'd be happy. Thankfully if I did return, I didn't have to hear Edward's thoughts, I could just choose not to copy his gift and be done with it.

I opened my eyes when I picked up someone else's scent. "Jasper?"

"Wren, what are you doing?" he wondered.

"I am resting off a blood coma," I replied tiredly.

"You've been gone for nearly two days, Edward's been worried," he told me.

My irritation spiked as a growl rumbled in my chest, "Let him be, I'm _nobody_." Slowly a calm settled over my nerves until the growl subsided, "Thanks."

He sat down next to me resting his elbows on his knees, "What happened?" I hesitated, grinding my teeth together. He sensed my hesitation and chuckled, nudging my leg with his foot, "You can tell me."

"Did you know Alice had been seeing Bella after Edward left?" I asked him. When he diverted his gaze ahead of him, I immediately copied his ultra-sensitivity. He was overcome with a desire to lie to me, as well as disbelief. "So you did know. Well, she came to the house while you were gone, I was an instant away from bleeding her dry on the front porch, thank god Edward was there otherwise I would have."

"I knew it was a bad idea, but Alice missed her best friend," Jasper explained. "And Bella never came to the house, Alice always went to her."

"That doesn't make it okay to disregard Edward's --"

"No one disregarded anything, Wren!" Jasper snapped. "Before he left, Edward did ask Alice to keep an eye on her."

"With her gift, no doubt, not physically!" I shot back as I sat up.

"You've been apart of this family for five minutes, and suddenly you think you know Edward better than us?" he countered harshly.

I chuckled darkly, "First off, I don't remember any invitation to become a Cullen. Second, Edward is my sire, I've _known_ him better than you for my entire existence."

Jasper sighed, clenching his jaw and I smirked; even a silent admittance of defeat was still an admittance. Then I sighed heavily and ran a hand through my hair, "… This is way too much drama for me."

Jasper laughed out loud, a gift in and of itself, and turned to look at me with a grin on his face that crinkled the corners of his eyes. I grinned back feeling all the tension dissipate between us. We couldn't stay mad at one another, we both knew, it was apparent almost immediately after we met. Us new vegetarians had to stick together, after all.

"So, how angry were you when Edward came back? Was it that bad?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes and rubbed my hands down my arms and mumbled, "Ew," when I realized they were slick and not from the rain. I shook my head, "I wasn't as mad as he thought I was… annoyed more like." Then I lowered my voice, "I told him about Michele."

He lifted my mood as he asked, "How'd that go?"

"Oh, brilliantly," I crooned, my voice heavy with sarcasm. "I just _love_ telling people about my dead lover."

Jasper's mouth pressed into a thin line as he slid his arm around my shoulders and leaned me against him. He calmed my nerves, kept the sadness at bay enough that it didn't consume me as it used to. I swallowed hard, thankful for Jasper's gift and the boy himself. Too bad he was so in love with Alice because I could definitely see myself falling for him. But that would never happen, I regarded him as a protective big brother, the one that would make sure the monsters in the closet wouldn't get me.

"You're welcome," he muttered into my hair before making a noise of disgust. "What in God's name have you been doing out here, you smell like a compost heap and you're a mess, Wren."

"I've been hunting."

"For the entire two days?"

"Maybe, after the mountain lion I thought I was going to explode so I stopped and laid down."

He turned me to face him and took my head in his hands, "You've definitely had a lot, you're a little warmer and there's a flush to your cheeks." Then he motioned down to my shirt, "However, I'm surprised any of it got in your mouth considering how much is on your clothes… Alice will go into hysterics."

I chuckled, "That's mostly the bear's blood, he was a little harder to take down."

Jasper shook his head, "Well, that would make sense considering it is quite a bit bigger than you, darlin'," He stood up then pulled me to my feet, "Come on, before Edward rips his hair out from worry."

"Cuz that would be _such_ a shame," I grumbled.

He turned to face me again, his eyebrows puckered in the center, "What else happened?"

Shaking my head I replied, "Nothing, just me being petty."

"Uh huh…" he drawled, "you're lying."

I smirked, "Get used to it."

* * *

**Oooohhh, drama!! looovee it! :P  
So yeah, Bella made a special appearance. She actually  
wasn't supposed to be seen this early, but she was being difficult. lol.  
Next chapter we're back in Edward's POV. **

**And man, let me tell you, probably the hardest part of this  
isn't what you think. It's trying to find excerpts from poems  
that coincide with the content of the chapters, I mean you  
have no idea how many poems I've read already. As well as  
chapter titles, they're a huge pain in the ass! Ugh. **

**And now onto my favorite part. REVIEWS! YAY!  
I got ten reviews for teh last chapter, that's why I'm  
updating already, you were all going to have to wait another week or so ^_^  
Buut, yeah, anywho... I'd love love LOVE to thank: **_Rosalin, BleedmetoINSANITY,  
J, Someone, stephvamp25, Moviegirl1616, twialleyholic-OCD, w8ing4rain, Mrs. Cullen- VAMPIRE xoxo,  
sand-storm94,_ **and **_SapphireJKH_ **for reviewing. THANK YOU SO SO MUCH, YOU GUYS  
KEEP ME WRITING THIS! **

**Review? Pretty please with a cherry on top!? :D **

**-(gxr)- **


	13. Bound to Happen

**Ch. 11 - Bound to Happen**

_Well, it all makes for interesting conjecture.  
And it occurs to me that what is crucial is to believe  
in effort, to believe some good will come of simply trying,  
a good completely untainted by the corrupt initiating impulse  
to persuade or seduce—_  
- The Empty Glass, by Louise Glück

Pacing was not a habit I usually indulged in, but Wren had been gone for almost two days. I would've gone to look for her myself, but the tone of her mind told me I would've been the last person she wanted to see. So against my better judgment, I waited for my family to come home and asked Jasper to go look for her. If anyone could bring her back, it was him.

I was pacing the length of my room trying to ignore the music coming from Rose and Emmett's room… if it could be called music. I didn't understand the appeal of the popular, bubble gum pop music, especially to Rose. There was some of today's music that I did like, but for the love of god, if you're going to get into the music industry don't make others want to gouge out their eardrums. And it wasn't terribly loud, but it was loud enough that it was drowning out everyone's thoughts, which I needed if I was going to know when Jasper returned with Wren.

I was trying to think about anything other than Bella's appearance on the front porch the other day, hence the pacing and worrying about the music Rosalie was listening to. I had been so frightened when I saw her face in Wren's mind, I didn't know what to think, I thought maybe she happened to have seen Bella's picture because the image in her head wasn't exactly correct. And then Wren's thinking had changed drastically and I had no choice but to leave the piano and stop her from acting on the thoughts racing through her mind.

And unfortunately, it _had_ been Bella.

And unfortunately, she was just as lovely as the last time I saw her.

My throat had burned raw, as I'm sure Wren's did as well, but she wasn't nearly as accustomed to it as I and even I had struggled with it as she stood on the front porch. She was so close I could've touched her, tangled my fingers in the mahogany lengths of her hair, but that would've been unwise in the extreme; I hadn't gone hunting with my family. At that moment, I was grateful that Wren was there, her control was better than I thought as she had been… human enough to stop herself when she realized who it was that stood on the porch.

My reminiscence was stopped suddenly when I heard Carlisle's relieved voice, "Wren, there you are, we've been worried. I thought maybe…"

He didn't need to finish his sentence for Wren to know what he had been thinking. She chuckled, "I keep my promises, Carlisle, do you really think so little of me?"

"Of course not, my dear," he told her, the smile evident in his tone.

There were footsteps in the hall, then Jasper appeared and leaned against my doorframe, allowing me to forget the continuing conversation downstairs. His eyes raked over me, gauging my mood not only with his ability but by my stance as well. It seemed he pinpointed what I was feeling, if the smirk that touched the corner of his lips was any indication.

"Why so anxious, Edward?" he wondered.

I ignored his question, "How is she?"

"Wren's fine, a little annoyed and irritated, but fine," Jasper answered, brushing a dripping lock of hair from his forehead. "She told me Bella came by…"

"And?" My voice was hard and cold, but then my voice dropped "…Is that what she's upset about?"

"Would it matter if it was? And why would it concern you if _Wren _was upset about _Bella_ coming by… other than the obvious," he countered, picking up the worry that had been in my tone.

_Damn._ He had me there because what was bothering Wren shouldn't be any of my concern at all. That's what Jasper was getting at. Jasper shook his head, the smirk not leaving his face. He was sensing something from me that I must not have been aware of myself yet to cause that smirk, but his eyes held an unspoken warning at which I could not fathom.

"Did she tell you why she's upset?" I asked him.

"No."

I took a breath to say something when Alice's voice trilled through the entire house: "Oh my god! Wren that was a cashmere top! _Cashmere_!"

Jasper looked down and grinned widely, trying to suppress his chuckle as I heard Wren reply, "I'm sorry, Alice, I didn't have time to change before I went hunting."

Alice sighed indignantly, "That's alright… you'll just have to come with me to get a replacement!"

"_A-lice!_"

"It's the least you can do since you got blood all over that one," she replied, sweetly.

Wren groaned, "… Fine."

Interesting, she didn't mind when Alice dressed her up, but she would mind shopping. Jasper turned to greet Alice as she appeared at the top of the stairs just down the hall. She approached grinning, placing her arm around Jasper's waist then leading him away, neither of them acknowledged me once they saw one another.

A moment or two later, I heard Wren's footsteps on the stairs, "Are you alright?" I asked as she passed my doorway.

She paused, her jaw clenching, "I'm fine," she grit out through her teeth.

_Liar_

She heard me and smirked, _Like I told Jasper: get used to it._

"I'm sorry Bella came by, that had to be… hard on you," I told her.

Wren shrugged, turning fully toward me to reveal what Alice had been so upset about. The lilac top Alice bought her was torn in a number of places and stained with dried blood, so much that if you didn't know it was lilac to begin with, you'd never know except for a clean spot here and there.

"I've had to deal with worse, trust me. It was worse on you."

"How'd you --?" She stopped me by tapping her temple. Right, I had almost forgotten. "If you knew it was worse on me, why'd you leave, you had enough control on yourself."

It was true, at the time Wren had managed to wrest her more deplorable half into almost complete submission, something not even Jasper could do and he had been at this diet far longer compared to her. If I had to guess at how she was able to do this, I'd say that Wren had been one of those rare cases that when she turned, her thirst was not as prevalent as with other newborns, the scent of blood hadn't bothered her as much as it should have. If this was the case, it also meant that Wren could go longer without hunting than even myself. As her sire this was a comforting thought, that she hadn't gone on a complete massacre when she awakened as a newborn.

Again, Wren shrugged, absently scratching at the dent between her clavicles. "Common courtesy. It wasn't my place to be here if she was."

It was her simply answer that angered me, not the fact that her simple answer was clearly a lie. "I could've killed her!" I retorted.

"But did you?" she countered. When I didn't answer, and focused my gaze on my shoes, Wren continued, "No, you didn't. Think the worst of yourself because of what you are all you like, Edward, but the reality is... you're a good man."

She then turned and took one step to go to her room, but thought better of it and faced me again. "Contrary to what you may think, you control the monster, not the other way around. It's mind over matter; you're stronger than you think."

I felt one corner of my lips turn upward into a smirk. How ironic that Wren was the ward and I was the sire and here she was telling me how to control my thirst. "How many motivational phrases can you put into one sentence?"

"As many as it takes," she replied. "And before I forget, Carlisle would like to speak with you."

Having delivered her message, Wren tapped the doorframe and went to her room. I heard the door click closed before she began to shuffle through something, most likely her duffle (I smiled, wondering at the argument that must've ensued between Wren and Alice about that tattered old thing). The area where her thoughts should have been coming from was silent until a soft blues song filled the void; she had put in headphones.

_"It's not a silly little moment, it's not the storm before the calm, this is the deep and dying breath of this love that we've been working on… Can't seem to hold you like I want to, so I can feel you in my arms, no body's gonna come and save you; we've pulled too many false alarms…"_

I made a note to myself to ask Wren what song she had decided to listen to as I made my way downstairs to speak with Carlisle. I found him sitting at the kitchen table reading one of the area papers, while the rest were stacked beside him. It was another precaution, though we knew Alice would tell us of anything to be worried about, it was a habit we'd had before Alice came along and it never quite went away, I suppose.

"You wanted to speak with me?" I announced, though I knew he heard me come into the room.

He set down the paper in that fatherly way, laying it out and then folding it over. It was comical in a way, such a human gesture. Carlisle looked at me, his topaz eyes grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Yes. I did."

"What about?" I wondered as I took a chair.

"We've asked Wren to join the family," Esme said as she walked into the room as well.

This didn't surprise me, it was bound to happen. The visions Alice had wouldn't be possible without Wren becoming a member of the family. I was more curious as to why I was the only one they were telling, with a decision like this, Esme and Carlisle usually involved the entire family in the notification and following conversation.

"Has she accepted?"

At my inquiry, both of my parents looked down, the suddenness of the change jolted me for a moment. Had she honestly said no?

"Not quite, but she hasn't exactly declined either," Carlisle said. Then he sighed and leaned forward onto his elbows. _Wren's situation is different in comparison to the others'…_

"… Because I'm her sire?"

My father nodded once, "What you have to understand is that the bond between a sire and their ward is bizarrely complicated in ways that even I have yet to comprehend. The rules don't quite apply, especially given yours and Wren's situation."

Esme placed her hand on her husband's shoulder, "As your ward, Wren won't stay unless you want her to."

Somehow, that made no sense to me. Our family was Carlisle's coven, his invitation was _all_ Wren should need. With his invitation and her acceptance of it, none of us had ground to protest whether we liked it or not.

"So what you're telling me is that I have to invite her to stay as well?"

"If you wish her to stay as more than just a guest. She said that she won't stay much longer, a week more at most," Esme replied sadly.

Wren had already made the decision of when she was going to leave? And so soon at that, Esme may as well have told me Wren was leaving tonight. This knowledge seemed to send my mind into a panic, scrambling to find ways for her to stay. She had seemed content enough staying here, now what had changed her mind so suddenly that Alice hadn't even seen it coming?

"It's your choice, Edward," Carlisle said.

I nodded, conveying my comprehension of the situation, wordlessly stood and left the room. My mind felt heavy as I trudged back to my bedroom, this was not a decision to take lightly because it affected my entire family. I could not allow myself to think of my, nor anyone else's desire for Wren to stay simply because we liked her. There were other, long term concerns. Would she be an exposure risk; would we have to watch her like we did Jasper; what would her cover story be when we moved again…

I suddenly stopped in front of the window that looked out over the forest, a smile coming to my lips. I was making this decision more complicated than it needed to be. Carlisle had already asked Wren to become a member of the family, which meant that he already thought through the long term concerns. I realized I wasn't supposed to approach the decision the way Carlisle would. I wasn't supposed to weigh the pros and cons, worry about what was best for the family because my father had already done that.

It _was _simply a matter of whether or not I wanted her as a member of the family. And what was the alternative, Wren leaving in a matter of days to return to her home or travel some more? We would become just another coven she visited and stayed with for a time, a story she would tell when she stayed with other covens. The possibility of seeing her again would drop significantly. If that happened, I wasn't entirely sure that I wouldn't regret the decision to not invite her to stay permanently. Nor was I entirely sure that I wouldn't try and find her again.

_How the tables have turned_, I thought to myself as I left my room and headed to the guest bedroom that would soon become Wren's real bedroom should she accept.

I knocked quietly, receiving a soft "Come in" in return. I opened the door and stepped in finding Wren folding her clothes gingerly on the bed, already in the process of packing. On the chest of drawers just adjacent to the door, she placed her traveling clothes.

"You can stop doing that," I told her with a chuckle.

As soon as she turned her citrine eyes to me, I came to the profound understanding that there was never a doubt in my mind that I would invite Wren to stay.

"I can?" she inquired, genuinely confused.

I nodded, "Yes. Wren, I'd like for you to stay, become the newest member of the family."

She was stunned for a moment, had even stopped breathing as her eyes slowly widened. A smile slowly spread across her face, and she nodded to bring herself out of her stupor. "I'd like that, thank you."

"My pleasure," I assured her.

Wren looked off, "I'll have to go home, pick up some things, take care of some personal business…"

I nodded, "That's understandable, no one expects you to make this adjustment quickly."

She faced me, took one step forward and then stopped, seeming unwilling to let herself come closer. "Thank you, Edward," she breathed, then cast her eyes downward sheepishly, an unexpected gesture because of all the adjectives that could be used to describe Wren "sheepish" wasn't one of them. "I've always been the wanderer, I've never _belonged_ anywhere before."

Wren then turned away from me as her thoughts grew louder, running down the laundry list of things that she would need to accomplish if she was going to move in permanently. She seemed to have forgotten I was in the room as she continued folding her clothing.

"Well, now you belong here…" I muttered as I turned and left the room. _With me_, my thoughts whispered the end of my unfinished sentence.

* * *

**Yay, Wren's going to stay with the Cullens!  
And we finally see Edward admitting that perhaps he likes her more than he lets on ;)  
I know some of you were expecting to see the conversation between Bella and Edward  
but to be honest, I just didn't feel like it. The conversation between them in my head  
mostly consisted of Bella's curiosity about Wren and Edward dodging the questions  
or not answering them fully like he's so good at.  
**

**From here on out, Edward and Wren's relationship is going to start to pick up  
a little bit of speed, but not too much because I don't want to rush it.  
Next chapter is still in Edward's POV and he and Wren are making the  
trip back to Chicago to get Wren's stuff where interesting things will  
happen, and someone from Wren's past makes an appearance!! ;)**

**And if you didn't already know, the song in this chapter is "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room"  
by John Mayer. Oh lord, that man could sing to me allll day long. ^_^'**

**And onto my favorite part... REVIEWS!! YAYAYAYAYAYAY! {ahem}  
lmfao. I definitely love some of the reviews I got about Bella's appearance  
last chapter, made me laugh so hard. I'm so glad there are people that share my  
serious contempt for her... Unfortunately, she will make another appearance later  
on, and her part will be significantly bigger...**

**Anyway.... I would love love LOVE to thank... **_Atropa Belladonna, A Dahlia For Bree,  
Isabella M.C._ **(reviews every chapter!)**, _Edward'sGirlForEternity_ **(for the longest review i've ever freakin' seen!),  
**_SapphireJKH _**(reviews every chapter as well!!)**, _Haley Cullen- The Vampire Girl,  
stephvamp25, J, BleedmetoINSANITY,_ **and** _w8ing4rain_ **(because she also reviews every chapter, and I love it, thank you!)**

**Okay, so one more thing. I started a community of Cullen/OC stories. Check it out  
and if you have any that you have read that you think should be in there, let me know!**

**Review!? Please!? :D **

**-(gxr)-**


	14. A New Light

**Ch. 12 - A New Light**

_This will be another one of those  
loose changes, the rearrangement of  
hearts, just parts of old lives  
patched together, gathered into  
a dim constellation, small consolation.  
Look, we will say, you can almost see  
the outline there: her fingertips  
touching his, the faint fusion  
of two bodies breaking into light.  
_- Naming the Stars, by Joyce Sutphen

Hours later the Olympic Coven gathered in the dining room, this included our new member, Wren. She sat across from me, on Alice's other side, smiling serenely, running her fingers over the grain pattern in the wood. Rose was the last one down, taking the open seat between me and Emmett.

"Now that we're all here," Carlisle began, glancing pointedly at Rosalie who just smiled back brilliantly. "We have things to discuss, mainly that Wren has decided to accept our invitation and stay here in Forks as a member of the family."

Alice squealed, as if she didn't already know it was going to happen, and hugged Wren to her side who laughed. Emmett shouted "yes!" punching the air with his fist then reached across the table and bumped fists with her, while Rose beamed, and Jasper reached around Alice to ruffle Wren's hair.

I admit, it stung a little to see mainly Jasper and Rose accept Wren so openly when it had been near pulling teeth for them to accept Bella. Though I understood why, to Jasper he didn't have to worry about her getting a paper cut and him lunging at her, Wren wouldn't bring out his demon; actually, she brought out the charisma we all knew and loved about him because she reflected it. In his thoughts he would frequently say that Wren reminded him of someone from his human life, who's name he could no longer recall. In the first days I was back, I had learned from Jasper's thoughts that they had bonded over their unique abilities; Wren understood him differently from us.

Similarly, to Rose, Wren wouldn't mean a new location as opposed to if she were human. She wasn't an exposure risk. She wasn't breakable. We could hug her and not worry about snapping her spine. Oh, and not to mention the way Wren got Rose to like her was to "appeal to her vanity" as she put it when I inquired as to _how_ she got Rose to like her.

Carlisle laughed, "Yes, yes, we're all obviously very excited. Edward mentioned that you wanted to go home and get some things…" he directed at Wren.

She nodded, "Yeah, like my car, the rest of my clothing… I'll need to get a storage container, that room won't hold all my things… my art, the things I've collected through my travels…" _So many things, memories… and I have to compartmentalize my entire life to fit into that tiny room… Was this really a good idea? And what the hell am I going to do with Figaro, no way can I bring him here… _

Her eyes dropped to the table once again as her thoughts continued, but the smile was gone replaced by a puckering between her eyebrows and a firm line to her lips instead. I didn't want her second guessing coming to stay here, panicking, I turned to Esme with a pleading stare.

I got her attention and she nodded, "That's just the guest bedroom, we can expand it while you're gone. Granted, it won't hold everything, but it'll hold enough, Alice and Rose will help me decorate, won't you girls?"

My sister nodded vigorously, "Of course we will!" She placed her arm around Wren's broader shoulders, "It'll be great and all done by the time you get back…"

This made Wren smile, "Thank you… but, _please_ Alice, nothing pink."

Alice pouted, "Debbie Downer."

Rose chuckled, "I'll make sure nothing pink."

She smiled gratefully at Rose while Emmett piped up, "What name will she be taking?"

"Hmm…" Carlisle mumbled, looking long and hard at Wren who met his stare unabashedly. "… Cullen most likely, or if you'd like to keep your last name?"

Wren shook her head, "If I'm going to be a member of the coven, I might as well do it entirely. But my name is sure a mouthful now…" _Wren Annemarie Landon Masen Cullen… say that five times fast. _

My father smiled, "It's settled then, Alice can start on getting papers in order and you can leave tomorrow, since your car isn't here I'm sure Edward wouldn't mind accompanying you."

I looked at Carlisle and shook my head, "Not at all." _You don't mind, do you? _

_Not at all, _she replied silently.

"Okay, moving on, anyone have anything else to share?" Carlisle wondered aloud.

Rose cleared her throat, "Emmett and I are planning on taking another honeymoon. We were going to leave in a couple days." Then she turned to Wren, "I'm sorry, but we probably won't be here when you get back."

Wren shrugged, "That's alright. Where are you thinking about going?"

"Europe," Emmett replied.

She nodded approvingly, "Good choice."

"Alright, well if no one has anything else to add…" He looked around the table, but everyone remained silent. "Very well, dismissed."

All of us stood up silently. Alice and Jasper headed out for a late night hunt, while Rose and Emmett stayed behind to discuss their upcoming honeymoon with Carlisle and Esme. Wren and I were the only ones headed back upstairs. She loped beside me, not really even watching where she was walking, her attention was elsewhere.

When we reached my bedroom door, she finally turned to me, "I'll be ready to leave whenever you are."

"Okay, what do you say to being on the road by seven?"

Wren nodded, "Alright, that works. Goodnight, Edward."

I watched her walk to her room, she was distant, something was wrong. I decided that I would find out tomorrow during the drive, right now, after the decision she made today, she needed to be left alone.

**-:-**

Wren was better in the morning, not as scattered as the previous night. We ended up leaving the house around 7:15 due to good-byes and Wren telling Rose and Emmett places to see when they went to Europe. For the majority of the car ride out of Washington, Wren and I were silent. She stared out the window, with her arms and legs crossed watching the scenery pass.

When we passed into Montana, I finally turned and asked, "So where am I headed, exactly?"

A smirk tugged at one corner of her mouth, "I figured you would've guessed. I still live in Chicago."

"… _Still_?"

"Mhm. I didn't stay long after I turned, I think five or six years before I started to travel. I've been living there since I came back from traveling, about twelve years ago," she explained. "I can't help it, I love that city."

She let the sentence fade, and silence took over once again. If she was going to be quiet this entire drive, we might have a problem because I couldn't drive at my normal speeds the entire way there and that being so the trip would take about a day and half. The good thing though was that I had gotten her to uncurl herself, one hand was now placed on the arm rest between us while the other she used to prop up her head against the door.

Wren seemed to dislike the silence as much as I did and clicked on the radio, sifting through the stations. I watched out of the corner of my eye as a smile graced her face and took her hand away. I smiled as well, listening to the familiar tune, Billy Joel's _Piano Man_. She went back to gazing out the window, mouthing the words to herself, but I could still hear them on her breath and I wondered if one day I'd hear her sing again.

I looked down at her hand, watching as her slender fingers pantomimed different notes and chords on invisible keys, perfectly in time with the song. Although Wren's will to sing drained from her with Michele's life, I was grateful that his death hadn't taken her love of music as well.

Her hand went still when the song ended and another began to play. I took a deep breath and held it, slowly placing my hand on top of hers while watching for any negative reaction. There was none, no recognition crossed her mind nor her face at the feel of my hand on hers. Hurt and disappointment slowly crept their way into my system. Then ever so slowly, I felt Wren's hand shift beneath mine, turned until our hands were palm to palm before she lightly curled her fingers around the side of my hand. And yet, by the look on her face, it looked as though she would've been shocked to even learn she had another hand.

"I'm glad you said yes," I told her quietly, barely above a whisper. I was afraid that if I spoke louder than that, I might startle her.

Wren's hand constricted around mine, squeezing it gently. _Me too._

I let out the breath that that I was still holding.

For the first time in over two years, I saw my endless night begin to lighten as the bleak horizon bled into color and my world was cast into a soft and pale, but nonetheless brilliant light. A luminous full moon was rising, allowing me to see differently; night was just as beautiful as the day. And never would I have to worry about my newly lighted world being plunged into darkness again, this moon was as eternal as I.

**-:-**

I let Wren drive into the city itself, I wanted to see how much had changed since I hadn't returned to Chicago since Carlisle and I left. I had a bizarre sense of coming home that I didn't understand as we drove down the once familiar streets, made unfamiliar by modernization. I never expected Wren would still live in the city she died in, but when I thought about where she might live instead nowhere else seemed fitting for her.

"Is there any reason, we're still driving around in the city?" I asked her as we drove past the History Museum.

She chuckled, "I told you I still live _in_ Chicago, I wasn't kidding."

Did that mean she lived in the actual city and not just outside of it? Why would she do that? Big cities were dangerous to the vampire lifestyle - vegetarian or otherwise. There were too many humans, too many chances to give in to temptation, too many chances for exposure.

"And in case you're wondering, yes, I do hunt within the city… well, I _did_," she told me, turning down a street.

A few moments later, Wren eased the Volvo to a stop in front of a large, very nice apartment building. I waited for the "just kidding", and for her to start the car again, but it never came. Instead, Wren unbuckled her seatbelt and got out, rounding the front of the car to speak to the doorman who was smiling. Of all the places for a vampire to live, Wren had to pick an apartment building packed with humans; her (and now my) potential prey.

I took a breath and held it as I opened the car door and stepped out. Wren held out the car keys and handed them to the doorman, "Will you please make sure my friend's car gets parked beside mine, please?"

The doorman, a man in his mid-forties with his hair going white just above his ears nodded, "Of course, Miss Masen." _She's such a stunning girl, and nice too. It's good to see her again… That must be her boyfriend, hmm…_

"Thank you, Joel," she chirped, kissing his cheek and pressing a bill into his palm.

Then she turned around and headed back to the car to get her duffel from the trunk. "Are you _insane_!?" I hissed as she passed me.

Wren merely grinned cheekily swinging her duffel onto her shoulder, "Come on, Edward."

Grudgingly, I followed into the vast foyer of the apartment building. The mental chatter exploded in my mind as the people noticed Wren and I enter. It was so loud, I felt like my ears were ringing. It quieted slightly when we entered the elevator and began to ascend.

"How can you live here with all these… _people_?" I wondered, trying to ignore the rawness of my throat.

"I told you, mind over matter," she replied easily. "Don't think about it, it won't bother you."

"Where on earth did you get that from?" I scoffed.

Wren's head tilted to the side, _Hmm… When I was traveling Asia, I stayed at a Buddhist Temple for awhile. Since it's a religion based on philosophy, it doesn't damn our kind for eternity, we can… be reborn. _

The elevator stopped and the doors opened, but I stared at Wren's back for a moment as she walked out. The girl never ceased to surprise me. As I followed her down the hall, I honestly wondered which one of us was the sire and which was the ward. Wren was truly an interesting creature, though I wasn't about to remind her that for us to be reborn, we must first die.

I followed her a ways down the hall before she finally stopped in front of apartment 2017. She swung the duffel to the floor and dug into one of the front pockets, extracting a jumble of keys. She let the door swing open, motioning for me to go on ahead. I never expected Wren to be one for luxury, but apparently I was wrong. The apartment was impressive, and lovingly decorated, but like my family and I, Wren had not managed to accomplish that lived-in feeling that humans had in their homes, it was too immaculate. The atmosphere was still, it felt like no one had ever even lived in the apartment.

"What do you think?" Wren inquired, closing the door behind her and walking past me headed down the hall to where I assumed the bedrooms were.

"It's nice," I replied, crossing the expansive room to the floor to ceiling windows.

And it was, the walls were pearl grey, the floor covered by plush white carpet. There was a lot of what looked like handmade decorative plates, and hand-blown vases in an array of colors. The walls were adorned with different paintings, a few tribal masks were placed near the kitchen. I smiled when I spotted the Buddha sitting on the end table beside one of the burgundy suede couches. Two or three canopic jars sat as a centerpiece of the coffee table, which was a wooden chest. She had so many things from different cultures, and yet she had found a way to make them coincide so that one was not overpowering the others. On the mantle of the fireplace there were several black and white photographs, one of the Eiffel Tower at night, another of The Sphinx; photographs of different things she had seen in her travels.

"I know it's a little over the top, but it's home," she said, coming back into the room, gathering her hair at the top of her head and tying it there. "Now I have a question for you."

"… Okay."

"I have a pet, and I have to pick him up from my neighbor, can I trust you not to eat him?" she asked, and I couldn't help but chuckle because somehow, finding out she had a pet didn't surprise me.

"I'll do my best."

Wren nodded, "Then I'll be right back."

She exited the apartment, leaving the door open. I heard her footsteps echo down the hall before she stopped and knocked on a door. She waited a few moments before the tenant of the apartment opened the door.

"Oh, wow, Wren! It's good to see you, it's been awhile!" a young woman's voice resonated down the hall to me. _Where on earth has she been?_

Wren chuckled, "I know, Della, has Figaro been good?"

The woman, Della, replied, "Yeah, he's missed you though, I can tell."

"He always does, thanks for watching him," Wren told her.

"No problem," Della assured her. "You're coming this weekend, right?"

"That's why I came back," Wren called back to her as she walked down the hall.

Wren reentered the apartment carrying a large bag in one hand, and a calico cat tucked under her other arm. The cat was purring softly, nuzzling against Wren's body, obviously happy to see her.

"Why do you _have_ a pet?" I wondered as she placed the cat on the ground, watching as it weaved between her legs while she set its dish on the island in the kitchen and poured him some food.

Wren shrugged as she picked up Figaro and placed him on the island to eat. "I got lonely living here by myself, I wasn't about to try and create a companion for myself, so I went and bought one."

"But --"

"Doesn't he know I'm not human? Oh, he knows. It took him months for him to stop hissing at me when I went near him, until finally one day I was reading the paper and he came and curled up next to me. I guess I gained his trust and convinced him that I wasn't going to hurt him," she explained, affectionately stroking the cat as he ate.

Cautiously, I approached the island as well. Figaro continued to eat, but the closer I got, he tensed, slowly the fur on his tiny body was bristling and rising as a warning even though he was still purring. Wren was right, he did know that we weren't human, in that way that animals know a storm is coming before it hits. Figaro stopped eating and turned to face me, his back to Wren, as if to protect her from me. I almost laughed at this, but I reached out my hand allowing the cat to smell it. Haughtily, he stuck out his neck and sniffed my fingertips. After a few moments, Figaro licked his lips and gently nudged my hand with his head allowing me to stroke the back of his neck.

I couldn't help the smile that crossed my face as I looked up at Wren and found her smiling back at me.

* * *

**OKAY, there's chapter 12! Phew! {wipes forehead}  
I love Wren so much, cuz she WOULD live in an apartment building  
and have a pet. lolz. oh well.  
Next chapter is Wren's POV and they're still in Chicago  
and will be for a couple more chapters. **

**Uhm... I don't think I have much to say today.  
Except the only reason I'm updating so soon  
is because of all the reviews I got! **

**So, here we go. A big thanks goes out to...  
**twialleyholic-OCD,  
Atropa Belladonna **(yeah, Bella again, it's necessary, unfortunately :/)  
**stephvamp25  
J **(I'm glad I made your day! :D)  
**Haley Cullen- The Vampire Girl  
w8ing4rain **(No, it's not bad to wish one of them had killed Bella... {coughcough} I mean... yes, that's VERY bad!)  
**Isabella M.C.  
Edward'sGirlForEternity **(No, there won't be a love triangle... I don't think... I haven't written that far yet, lol)  
**SapphireJKH **(lmao. you made my day, thank you! I'm sorry that your story got reported and you had to take it down! D:)  
**BleedmetoINSANITY **(Thank you, thank you, thank you for making me laugh out loud!)**

**Thank you guys so much, I love you all! The more reviews I get, the quicker I update! **

**So review, please!?**

**-(gxr)-**


	15. Loss and Fear

**Ch. 13 - Loss and Fear**

_Love has gone and left me and I don't know what to do;  
This or that or what you will is all the same to me;  
But all the things that I begin I leave before I'm through, —  
There's little use in anything as far as I can see._  
- Ashes of Life, by Edna St. Vincent Millay

In just two days, Edward and I managed to pack up two of the three bedrooms, since I didn't have real need for a bedroom I just used them as places to showcase the things I'd picked up in my travels. The third room I would pack myself.

Although I lived in an apartment building full of humans, I felt no need to keep up the façade that I was human to the extent Edward and the Cullens did because I wasn't a member of their society, I didn't work with any, and I didn't attend school; I was merely around them. I didn't attempt to make any of them apart of my life and they didn't make me apart of theirs with the exception of Della.

Edward had been gone for the last couple hours hunting in the nearest woods he could find so he'd resist eating Figaro. I was standing in front of the windows, looking out into the turbulent night. The rain pelted hard against the glass, the thunder shook the window in its frame. Nights like this, I wished I could drink a glass of red wine like I used to on stormy nights when I was human. I loved storms, I always did, watching them rage and light across the sky when lightning struck.

I heard the door to the apartment open and knew it was Edward when his familiar scent drifted over to me. Turning, I couldn't help but laugh at his appearance. Edward was soaked through and through. We may be fast, but we still couldn't run between the raindrops.

"You look like a drowned rat," I chuckled. This was a lie of course, because although he was dripping wet Edward was still the picture of perfection.

His eyes narrowed, "Thanks." Then he sighed, "I'm going to change."

He went to one of the bedrooms to change while I turned back to the window and crossed my arms over my chest. I could hear the shifting of fabric through the walls, the vibration of a zipper. The bedroom door opened and in a few long strides Edward was standing beside me dressed in a black thermal and light wash jeans.

"Hunt okay?" I inquired over a clap of thunder.

He nodded, "I mostly had to feed on smaller animals, but yes."

A flash of lightning lit up the entire apartment and out of the corner of my eye I saw Edward's brow furrow. "What's that look for?" I asked.

"Where'd you get that?" Edward reached out his hand and traced the curve of a scar along my shoulder, since I was wearing a sleeveless top he could see it easily. I swallowed, thank god I didn't have a pulse because I'm pretty sure it would have flat lined. "How did I not notice it before?" he asked more to himself, his finger still tracing the light scar. His touch was so gentle and the genuine concern in his tone made my knees weak.

"That's not the only one I have," I informed him. "Granted, I don't have as many as Jasper, but I have quite a few."

"From what?"

"Warring covens in Ireland in the early forties. The original coven was led by two brothers who had been changed, it was a fairly large coven too, they resided in an old Irish castle. I arrived many years after they split. But the brother that left was creating newborns left and right to match the size of the original; they were wreaking chaos all over the country. The brother that stayed with the original coven, Cole, enlisted my help because I was still fairly young and still retained some of my newborn strength," I explained.

"What happened?"

I closed my eyes, remembering the night the two covens clashed. We had come across Cole's brother, Reuben, teaching his newborns how to hunt… on an entire small town. No one was spared, men, women, children, the elderly… Sometimes, the screams from that night still haunted the darker corners of my mind. And although Cole and his coven also fed on humans, the horror of what Reuben was doing appalled us all. The casualties were great on both sides, the town burned to the ground, but none of the humans of the town survived, as humans anyway. Those few that had not been drained and had not died in the middle of their transformation were offered a place among Cole's coven.

Beside me, I heard Edward suck in a breath, having seen what happened in my mind because I wasn't willing to say it. "My God. Why didn't the Volturi step in and stop it before it ended that way?"

"Cole told me they did, step in that is, awhile before I showed up. They told Cole to end it, or they would end them all," I told him. "Later, I came to learn that the entire thing was over a woman. Reuben was jealous because the woman he loved had chosen Cole over him. I guess it goes to show that we vampires are a little more human than we're willing to acknowledge."

He shook his head, "I didn't realize…"

I chuckled, "What? That my travels weren't always beautiful locations and amazing sights?"

"I'm sorry Wren, I didn't think --"

I shrugged, waving my hand dismissively, "No, it's alright. Everything that's happened to me has left it's mark, good or bad. This particular one just left visible reminders." Sighing, I decided that it was time for a change of subject, "So, Della is starring in a show the day after tomorrow, do you think you'd be up for it?"

Edward smiled, "Of course, what show?"

"_Carmen._" I replied. "Della got the lead; she's a brilliant singer. She reserved second row seats for me and a guest, she said on the off chance I bring a date."

He nodded, "I'd love to be your date then."

"Great, the show starts at eight. I'm going to retire for the night, I'll see you tomorrow, goodnight."

I went to turn, but Edward's hand shot out and grabbed my wrist causing me to look back at him. I felt my eyebrows come together in confusion. The look on his face would have been comical because even he looked confused as to what he had just done, were it not for the hitch in my breathing. Edward shook away whatever thought had crossed his mind and lightly smiled, lifting my hand to brush his lips against the underside of my wrist.

"Goodnight, Wren," he whispered.

Oh god, the way he said my name, his voice wrapping around it like a lover's caress. I laid my hand against the side of his neck, gently moving it upwards over the artery where his pulse lay still until I could brush the pad of my thumb along his cheekbone. Edward leaned into my touch, keeping eye contact with me as he raised his hand and laid it against mine. I was startled from my reverence of his eyes when he wetted his lips and his gaze darted to my mouth.

I quickly dropped my hand, briskly bid him goodnight and went to the room that I had yet to pack up. Okay, so I ran, I admit it; I panicked… no big deal… right? I buried my face in my hands, sliding down the door to sit on the ground.

_Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! …Ugh!!_

I groaned and lifted my head looking around the room I was most reluctant to pack up. This was the room where I kept my reminders of Michele. I stood up slowly, wandering further into the room, running my fingers along the edges of the paintings that weren't hung up. I had kept my favorite ones after his death. I ventured over to the shelf where I kept a photograph I had taken of him, the picture was aged and faded because it hadn't been kept in a frame for many years, but the sight of it still made my figurative heart constrict painfully.

God, I missed him so much. I traced my fingers over the picture, following the curve of the one stubborn curl that would always fall forward on his forehead. _What do I do, Michele? I need help,_ I mentally asked his image, swallowing the tightness of my throat and blinking back the stinging in my eyes.I knew what he would want of course, he would want me to be happy… well, as happy as I could be without him.

But the truth was: I was terrified.

I hated that I was afraid. Edward made me feel things that I hadn't felt since Michele died, things Demetri had_ never_ been able to make me feel. Edward was a flash of lightning across my turbulent sky that illuminated everything and once it faded all was dark, and I was blinded, needing the brilliance of that light to see again. I was afraid that if I allowed myself to love him, it would end in disaster. I had already lost one person I loved and would do anything for and it nearly destroyed me.

What would I do if somehow, someway, I lost Edward too?

I shook my head and forced myself not to think about that as I began taking the paintings down from the walls.

****

-:-

The next day while Edward was out shipping things (mostly art and items I picked up traveling) back to Forks for my bedroom, I stayed behind packing up more of my things. The majority of my furniture had been sold (with the exception of the things Alice told Edward and I to ship back to Forks). I hadn't yet packed up my stereo, I intended that to be one of the last things to be shipped to Forks. So I played dance and techno music as I maneuvered my vacuum around where pieces of furniture used to sit, half dancing as I did so. Figaro spat and had gone running once the thing started to run.

I didn't even hear the door open, so it shocked the hell out of me when I spun and spotted Edward with an ear to ear grin on his face. "How long have you been there?" I demanded.

"Long enough," he laughed. "And please, don't stop on my account."

I turned off the vacuum and brushed my hair back, noticing that he held two garment bags in his hands. "Where'd those come from?"

"They were mailed from Forks, I picked them up at the front counter, I assume one is for you and one is for me," he said, handing me one.

Curious, I hung the garment bag Edward handed me on a cabinet handle and unzipped it. When I saw the dress that hung inside, I'm surprised my jaw didn't hit the floor. Gingerly, I removed the dress and hung it by itself and just stared at it.

"I can't wear this dress," I mumbled to myself turning back to the bag only to find a post-it stuck to the back of the bag.

_It will look amazing on you_, it read in what I'm sure was Alice's elegant handwriting.

"Really, Alice?" I shook my head, removing the post-it, only to find another one underneath it.

_Trust me_, this one read. _And Rose is going to want her shoes back._

Shoes? I felt to the bottom of the bag and pulled out a pair of black four inch stilettos. There's no way I could wear that dress to the show tomorrow, I was just planning on wearing skirt and blouse I hadn't packed yet. Even though, I knew it wasn't appropriate as we were going to an opera. Well, I didn't have to worry about that anymore, did I? I sighed looking back to slinky, black dress of doom knowing I didn't have a choice because Alice would be extremely displeased if she found out I didn't wear it.

****

-:-

The night of the show came and I stood in the bathroom scrutinizing my reflection in front of the full length mirror. The dress fit perfectly of course, but it was too low cut for my taste; the V went down to the center of my torso for goodness sake, and it was entirely backless. And if that wasn't enough, the slit up the skirt of the dress ended at the top of my left thigh!

"Wren, love, we're going to be late!" Edward called.

_Do I have to come out?_

"Yes, you have to come out. Personally, I find it highly unlikely that you look anything short of amazing."

I closed my eyes and turned around, opened the door and walked out. I found Edward standing in the front room looking ridiculously gorgeous in the tux that Alice had sent him. It had to be illegal somewhere for anyone to look as good as he did. He looked up from the floor slowly, taking in the skirt, the silver broach just above the slit, the low cut showing an ample amount of my cleavage and finally coming to rest on my face.

Edward's eyebrows shot up and his mouth fell open the slightest bit. "That's it… I'm changing!"

Before I could turn around, Edward spun me around forcefully smirking deviously, "No, you most certainly are not!" _And I am certainly thanking Alice when we get home._

_Well, you can thank her all you like because I'm going to murder her when we get home._

As Edward erupted in laughter and led me out the door, I forgot all about my discomfort with the dress and thanked god that there were few sounds in the world more beautiful than Edward Cullen's laugh. ****

-:-

The show had been amazing, Della was amazing. Though, I do admit, sitting beside Edward I had a difficult time concentrating on the show, especially since his hand hadn't left my knee since we sat down.

We were laughing to ourselves when we returned to the apartment building and everyone in the foyer stopped to look at us as we passed, many of them taking us for a young, beautiful couple in the bloom of love. They momentarily forgot about their aversion to us, their hearts lifting when they noticed him leading me forward by the small of my back.

_Let's give them a show, shall we?_

Before I could question what he meant, he grasped my hand and spun me away from him, the skirt of the dress billowing out around me. Then he spun me back and caught me, effortlessly moving to dip me backwards. I heard the people sigh in either adoration, or huff in jealously. He and I grinned at one another, our noses touching.

But in an instant our moment was over as I felt my face fall. How did I not notice it before right now? I should've felt it before he even stepped into the city, that familiar tug on my mind that alerted me that I was close to someone I was connected to. This thread was attached to a deep tenor voice, borderline baritone with an Italian accent. His presence was heavy in the building, formidable.

Demetri.

* * *

**ugh. okay, chapter 13. yay! Lots of fluff, be happy, damnit!  
Lolz, Alice. I'll try and get a picture of the dress on my bio page after I post this.  
Next chapter is in Edward's POV again.  
And I so wish I could up the rating on just a single chapter  
because some parts in next chapter are really pushing the T rating I have on this story. ^_^'**

**{flail} I'm really cranky and not in a good mood today. So be happy I updated. **

**Okay, moving on! Reviews! Lolz, I'm really glad you guys responded well  
to Figaro. He's a cutie in my head. And I want to thank...  
**Isabella M.C.  
BleedmetoINSANITY  
twialleyholic-OCD  
sand-storm94  
o0oFearMeo0o  
Atropa Belladonna  
Edward'sGirlForEternity  
Haley Cullen- The Vampire Girl  
w8ing4rain  
**for reviewing last chapter! :D  
**

**Until next chapter, please review? It'll cheer me up... a lot. **


	16. Visitor

**Ch. 14 - Visitor**

_There is a smile of love,  
And there is a smile of deceit,  
And there is a smile of smiles  
In which these two smiles meet; _

_And there is a frown of hate,  
And there is a frown of disdain,  
And there is a frown of frowns  
Which you strive to forget in vain_  
- The Smile, by William Blake

The night had been perfect, that is until Wren and I returned to her apartment building and there was a drastic change in her demeanor. Since we left earlier in the night, Wren's eyes were bright with the smile that curved her full, wide lips at the corners in the most alluring manner. But within a few minutes of stepping foot into the apartment building, her mood changed. The smile fell from her face and her eyes darkened.

"What is it?" I whispered in the elevator, low enough that the two other humans hadn't heard me.

"… Someone's here that shouldn't be," she replied and I was taken back by her tone. Though Wren was in no way mild mannered, the hard and cold pitch of her voice was startling.

The elevator doors opened and Wren slid between the humans and quickly strolled down the hall to her apartment. I couldn't ascertain what was going through her mind, or whom she thought was there, her thoughts were scattered, changing every couple seconds. Needless to say, I was really worried, something had spooked her entirely.

Wren paused in front of her apartment door, staring hard at the wood as if she expected it, at any second, to spontaneously combust. _Why are you here!? _she though venomously to the door. Wren then extended her hand and turned the doorknob, pushing the door inward. She seemed unsurprised, but I was sure we had locked it before we left.

_I suppose telling to you stay here would be useless, _she directed to me as she stepped in.

I didn't need her to turn on the light for me to see the figure that stood in front of the windows. Dread quickly filled my body as I took in his lean and muscled frame, his broad shoulders. _It can't be. _But the lights clicked on and my fear was confirmed.

Demetri turned and I didn't like the way his crimson eyes drifted to Wren, they way they lit up as they took in her figure. His suave smile faded however when he noticed me walk in behind her.

"What are you doing here, Demetri?" she demanded, but her words lacked the acid that was covering her thoughts. The belligerent flame in her eyes had been extinguished and they looked as docile as a doe's. She was a brilliant actress.

She crossed the room and they met in the center, where the coffee table used to be. The Volturi Tracker finally took his eyes off me once he was within arms length reach of Wren. He reached out and brushed the back of his hand against her cheek, but she didn't move, didn't reciprocate, simply stood there.

"Hello, my love," he whispered, then nodded to me, "Edward."

I nodded once, "Demetri."

"Answer me, Demetri," Wren insisted placing one hand on her hip.

Demetri turned his attention back to Wren and his eyebrows came together, "Oh, don't tell me Carlisle has converted _you_ to his twisted lifestyle as well? … Aro will be so disappointed."

This seemed to have struck a nerve because Wren's jaw clenched hard. Why would she care if Aro would be disappointed in her? Wren had lived her existence as a solitary vampire, hadn't she? So why was she affiliated with the Volturi?

Out of the corner of my eye I saw my cell phone light up on the kitchen island since I hadn't brought it with me to the opera and Wren didn't have one to begin with. I walked over the island and picked up my phone: 25 missed calls from Alice. This wasn't good, she had seen Demetri coming here and had tried to warn us.

"Carlisle's a brilliant man and I won't have you speaking of him like that," she snapped.

Demetri tilted his head to the side and looked her over, his ink black hair falling forward in front of his face. "Hmm, there was a time when you defended Aro in that manner."

"Things change, Demetri."

"Not us, and most certainly not _you_, my little songbird," he said affectionately.

Then it hit me, the way he looked at her, the way he spoke to her… Why hadn't I realized it sooner? Demetri was in love with Wren. I felt my anger erupt, raging from the roots of my hair to the tips of my toes. Jealously so potent my vision blurred and doubled.

"Anyway," he continued, tucking a loose curl behind her ear. "Aro sent me on a job and I thought I would come and visit you since I'd be in the country."

"Well, as you can see I'm in the middle of moving, it's really not a good time for me to have visitors," she told him, gesturing to the nearly empty apartment.

Demetri chuckled, "So volatile…" His fingers started at the top of her cheekbones and trailed down her face, "I remember a time when I could barely keep your hands off of me…"

As he spoke he leaned closer to Wren to whisper in her ear as his fingertips continued to travel down, over her collarbones, when he reached a deeper part of the V in her dress I turned away. My hands clamped around the edge of the marble countertop trying to ignore Wren's increased breathing.

"… Do you remember?"

I don't know which one of them thought it, it may have been both of them, but suddenly my mind was assaulted with images of groping, selfish hands, and sound bites of heavy breathing. Desperate moans and sighs… I tried to shut my mind to it, but it was like a train wreck, I just _couldn't_ and then a very clear picture of --

"That was a _long_ time ago, Demetri!"

I was grateful that her voice had put an end to the images, I didn't know how much more the countertop could take seeing as how I had successfully cracked it.

"Maybe so," Demetri cooed, taking a step back. "Goodbye, my dear."

Wren stood like a statue as he brushed past her, swooping to press his lips to her temple. She didn't so much as breathe for ten whole minutes. _He's gone,_ she thought, opening her eyes and taking a deep breath. Wren took her hair out of the twist it was in at the back of her head and let it cascade past her collarbones. _If he ate my cat, I will hunt him down right the fuck now. _

"Figaro!? Figaro, come here, baby!" she called out.

Figaro sauntered out of one of the empty bedrooms and trotted over to her. She sighed happily and knelt to pick him up scratching behind his ears until he started to purr, _Thank god your blood doesn't appeal to him in the slightest, huh? _

Finally Wren turned to me, "I'm sorry, Edward."

"How do you know Demetri?" I demanded quietly.

"I lived in Volterra for about twenty years, Demetri and I… we… dated, to use the term loosely," she admitted. "In me he thought he had found his mate, his other half to share eternity, unfortunately I didn't quite feel the same. Our relationship was… complicated."

"I'm surprised Aro let you leave, with your unique gift."

"Oh, he tried to get me to stay, believe me."

Then barely above a whisper: "… Did you love him?"

Figaro began to fidget in Wren's arms so she knelt down and let him go. "In my own way, but it wasn't the kind of love you're thinking of. We didn't have an emotional connection, I didn't really want one. The physicality, however, now that I longed for and it was the one place where we really connected."

"You wouldn't happen to know what job he was ordered to do, would you?" I asked her as I hit Alice's speed dial number. The only reason I asked was because his mind was oddly quiet to me.

Wren shook her head, "No."

Alice picked up on the third ring, "How could you have not brought your phone with you!? I have been trying to get a hold of you!"

"I know, I'm sorry, I wouldn't have answered it anyway it was on silent," I told her. "I'm guessing you were trying to call because you knew Demetri was going to show up?"

"Yes. At first I actually saw him coming _here_, but then he headed to Chicago where you and Wren are…"

"And now?"

"… He's going back to Volterra, but that's as much as I know once he decided to go to Chicago the future got really jumbled," she told me. "I'll call again if anything changes… Oh! And tell Wren she can bring her cat back with her, he'll just have to stay in her room."

I nodded, chuckling, "Alright, thanks Alice."

With a sigh, I closed my phone and looked up to tell Wren what Alice had told me, but she was gone. I heard Figaro cry and turned toward the noise, he was standing by the door pawing at it.

She had left.

**-:-**

About an hour later, I found her. Joel told me which direction Wren had headed and from there I simply followed her scent. I found her in the cemetery, sitting among the tombstones looking like an angel from a nightmare. The moonlight caused her exposed skin to shimmer just the slightest bit and her hair blew gently across her face with the slightest breeze. Silently, I approached and eased myself beside her on the bench beneath the dying weeping willow.

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see my parents," she said, motioning to the two headstones in front of her.

_Claudia Rose Landon1881-1926 _

_Oswald James Landon1879-1940_

"Your mother died young," I muttered, doing the math in my head: she had only been 45.

Wren nodded, "Four years after I "disappeared", she hung herself. My dad never gave up thinking that I was alive, he continued looking for me long after the police had given up. It was his optimism that drove her to it, she couldn't take him looking for me for years and getting her hopes up when she had already come to terms with my so-called death," she told me pointing to the headstone on the other side of her father's.

_Wren Annemarie Landon_

_Beloved daughter, you will forever sing in our hearts1903-1922 _

"It hit my mother the hardest because I was an only child and technically, I shouldn't have been born."

I turned to her, my expression that of confusion. But she was gazing thoughtfully at the headstones, longingly, almost as if she wished she was actually beneath her own headstone. "What do you mean?"

"My mother was told she couldn't conceive, there was an accident when she was young, she fell off her horse, broke her pelvis and it healed the wrong way, it made her walk with a cane for her entire life after that," she explained.

Wren started thinking of her parents then. Her mother had been tall and statuesque, much like Wren herself; the two could've easily been mistaken for sisters as Mrs. Landon had aged gently. Mrs. Landon, though hindered by her cane and slightly awkward gait, never let her disability hold her back. She made up for her encumbrance with a mega-watt smile and infectious personality. Mr. Landon was a journalist for the _Chicago Sun Times_ and had been much sought after by many young women for his boyish good looks and charm, but when Claudia snuffed his advances, he fell in love with her, only seeing her and never the disability. Wren's signature grin and dark curls had originally been her father's and he's the one that taught her how to play piano and got her to love music.

… As if I already didn't feel horrendous for what I had done to her, Wren's parents had loved her more than anything and they were _good_. She was the center of their world. Why couldn't they have been abusive, or utterly negligent? … I shook my head at that, knowing that if I found out Wren had been a victim of abuse it would've just made me wish I could've hunted her parents down.

I would've apologized again, but I didn't have the words for an apology of _this_ magnitude. By killing her and unknowingly turning her, I had not only destroyed Wren's life, but her family's as well. Had Wren not disappeared, her mother wouldn't have killed herself…

_And she wouldn't be sitting beside you right now… _my selfish half reminded me. It was interesting, the way that I was learning about Wren's life. Instead of the standard Q & A session, I realized that there was not much Wren would not tell when the time came for the information to be learned.

"Stop, Edward," Wren murmured.

"Stop, what?"

"Feeling guilty; you're all tense," she said. "I don't even have to copy your gift to know you're thinking about how much you regret what you did, about what my life would've been like if you never came into it."

I felt myself smile, "You're getting to know me too well."

At this Wren laughed and leaned her head on my shoulder, "You're just easy to read."

I chuckled, sliding my arm around her shoulders and resting my chin on the top of her head. "Okay, Wren."

_Can we go home in the morning, Edward? _she sighed.

_Of course. _

* * *

**Ugh. So tired. I went to a concert (secondhand serenade and red jumpsuit apparatus) last night  
and I didn't get home until 2 in the morning and woke up at 7:30 and have been up ever since.  
FML. {cranky}**

**Alright {yawns} chapter 14!!  
Poor Edward, I can't believe I made him  
see images of Demetri and Wren bumping uglies  
(incase you're wondering, Demetri is the one who thought them).  
Chapter 15 is in Wren's POV and we head back to Forks! Woot!**

**And can anyone guess what job Demetri was sent to do? ;)**

**And on to reviews! Where did you guys go? I didn't hear from the  
usual people! ... Do you not love me anymore? {cries}  
Lolz. Anyway (can you tell I need sleep?) I would like to thank...  
**WerewolvesMoon  
J  
Atropa Belladonna  
Edward'sGirlForEternity  
no-role-model  
BleedmetoINSANITY  
twialleyholic-OCD  
w8ing4rain  
**for reviewing! And thanks to everyong that has alerted/favorited this story as well!  
YOU GUYS ROCK MY SOCKS!!**

**review? please? {big cheesy grin}**

**-(gxr)-**


	17. Moving On

**Ch. 15 - Moving On **

_A green you must use as a cure for the blues—  
You drive them away as you go.  
We're outward bound on a long, long round,  
And it's time to be up and away:  
If worry and sorrow come back with the morrow,  
At least we'll be happy to-day.  
_- A Lay of the Link, by Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle

Morning came quickly. Edward and I spent the early morning packing the remainder of my things into his Volvo. Finally, my apartment was empty, feeling even less like home than it did before. Figaro came out from exploring the now empty rooms, pausing in front of me with a questioning tilt to his head.

"You're coming with me, don't worry," I told him, scooping him up and placing him in a cat carrier.

"Ready?" Edward asked, coming back into the apartment.

I took one last look from the windows, gazed at the pearl grey walls and sighed. "Yeah, I'm ready."

He came and stood next to me, placing his hand between my shoulders. Edward rested his forehead against my temple, so his mouth was level with my ear and whispered, "It's time to move on."

I began nodding, he was right. It was time to move on, change something in my life for once. "You're right, let's go."

Edward picked up Figaro's carrier and followed me out of the apartment for the last time. It was a long walk downstairs and outside. As Edward placed Figaro in the backseat of his car I bid farewell to Joel, he had always been so nice to me, never once coming on to me which was refreshing. I gave him a roll of money that equaled about two thousand dollars telling him to take his wife out and buy her something nice because she was a lucky woman.

"Thank you, Miss Masen," he said.

"Good-bye Joel, you were a good friend," I told him. I climbed into Edward's Volvo as he turned on the engine, "We have to go get my car," I reminded him. "It's in the parking garage a block over."

He simply nodded and drove the five minutes there. "Which one?"

"The blue one," I pointed to the car parked in the corner.

Edward stopped the car and got out to inspect my car. "This is your car?"

"Damn straight," I smirked, running my hand over the hood of my beloved, blue '09 Camaro with white racing stripes.

"A little ostentatious, don't you think?" he wondered, raising one slim eyebrow.

"This coming from the man who owns an Aston Martin Vanquish?" I scoffed, fishing my keys out of my jeans pocket. "I'll follow you?"

Edward rolled his eyes, "Alright, but take your cat, I won't be able to tolerate him meowing the entire drive."

Once Figaro was settled in the backseat, I started the car and followed Edward out of the parking garage. I didn't realize how much I had missed my car until I was driving it again; I walked when I traveled and took cabs in the city. Feeling the car pause just the slightest with every gear change, the rumble of the engine through my entire body.

When the highway opened up more, I decided that I needed to remember just what my car could do. It was night, around midnight so the only people on the highway were truckers in their semis, easy to avoid. I threw the Camaro into a different gear, pulled up next to Edward and idly drove beside him for a bit. When he looked over at me with a questioning leer I stomped on the accelerator, throwing the car forward and pulling a ways out in front of Edward.

Within a few moments, I heard Edward's Volvo pulling up behind me and I watched in the rearview mirror as he moved to go around me but I blocked him.

_You up for a race there, Edward? _

_You think you can beat me? _

I laughed, _Oh, I don't think I can… I __**know**__ I can. _

I could almost hear the smirk in his voice as he replied, _We'll see. _

Thus began the race back to Forks that probably cut our travel time down by quite a bit. Of course we had to slow down in more populated areas so we wouldn't get pulled over. For a couple hundred miles I think Edward was letting me win, to actually let myself think I could beat him. So for a couple hundred miles I let him win. But once we crossed into Washington, all bets were off, we were truly racing back to the house.

The driveway to the house was wide enough that both Edward's Volvo and my Camaro could fit comfortably while still racing at break neck speeds. The usual ten minute drive down the driveway took Edward and I less than two. When I saw the house, I threw my car into a different gear and punched the accelerator leaving Edward behind me. Before I would've ended up in the woods, I slammed on the breaks and spun the car around, facing his approaching Volvo with a smug grin on my face.

Pushing open my car door, I stepped out, "Told you I could beat you!"

"Gloating does not become you, Wren," he chided.

"And sulking does not become you," I replied.

He shrugged, "It's something I'm good at apparently."

"You're back, welcome home!"

I looked up, watching Esme descend the front steps and walk to Edward, enveloping him in a hug while I ducked back in the car and retrieved Figaro who was nothing more than a puff ball, the poor thing, all of his fur was standing on end. Obviously my cat was not appreciative of mine and Edward's race back to Forks.

"Alice is just finishing up the final touches on your room, Wren," Esme told me crouching to look in Figaro's cat carrier. "Aw, how cute!"

"Yeah. Be careful though, he knows we're not human and he's really wary of anyone but me," I warned her, not that I thought Figaro could harm her if he took a swipe at her. Although, I had a feeling that when Emmett came home with Rose that he would get along with Figaro just fine.

"Okay, it's ready!" Alice appeared at the front door grinning widely. I recognized that grin, it was the grin she had whenever she wanted to go shopping or use me as a My Size Barbie. _Oh lord, Rose hadn't been able to stop her from using every shade of pink Alice could find, did she? _

Edward chuckled, gripped my elbow and led me forward as Esme took Figaro and made clicking noises with her tongue. "I'm sure it's not that bad," he whispered in my ear just before Alice took over leading me forward.

I glanced at him skeptically as Alice told me, "Eyes closed!"

Grudgingly, I closed my eyes and let Alice lead me through the house and up the stairs. We turned left at the top of the stairs headed to what used to be the guest bedroom at the end of the hallway. I could still smell the fresh paint before I even stepped into the room. Alice stopped me a few steps into the room and I felt her brush by me.

"Okay, open them!"

I expected to be assaulted with the color pink when I fluttered my eyes open, but thankfully this was not the case. My room was beautiful and had doubled in size from the tiny guest room it had been. The walls were a deep teal with a layer of candy coating, making them shine. The wooden chest that had been serving as a coffee table in my apartment was placed at the end of an ivory chaise lounge. The chest of drawers and vanity were vintage, circa 1920's made of a dark cherry wood. My stereo had been set up in the corner near the wall of windows that everyone's bedroom had with a large cat tower for Figaro on one side. All of my books about art, history, philosophy, religion, mythology etc. had been placed into the bookshelf that was built into the wall, and among them were some things I collected while traveling like my Canopic jars, Buddha figurine, and hand-blown vases as well as the photographs that previously occupied my mantle.

Finally my eyes came to rest on the wall above the chaise lounge. "It was Rose's idea, she really liked it," Esme told me, her eyes wary as she took in the sadness that had overcome my features.

I shook my head and tried to smile, "I don't blame her," I said.

They had taken one of Michele's paintings and hung it up. It was the largest one I had, about six feet across and three feet high of the Parisian skyline in winter, what we could see from his apartment's terrace at least. But what drew the eye wasn't the skyline itself because it was the background, technically. What commanded the observer's attention was the figure standing at the balcony slightly off center, leaning against the railing in nothing but a black silk nightgown despite the snow flakes… Me.

I wanted to take it down, cover it up, hide it… something, anything from having it hung up for the world to see. Jasper's tawny eyes met mine with an empathizing gaze, while behind me Edward gently placed his hand against the back of my shoulder.

"It's a beautiful painting," Edward commented.

I nodded, "Painted by an even more beautiful man." I took a deep breath and plastered a smile on my face, "Thank you so much, it's a beautiful room, I can tell how much work you put into it. I love it!"

"It was nothing, dear, you're family now," Esme beamed.

"And the gifts don't end there," Jasper piped in, turning to pick up a box from the top drawer of the vanity. He handed me the box and said, "So we can get a hold of at least one of you."

I felt bad that Jasper had to deal with Alice while she was probably having a panic attack while she couldn't get a hold of Edward the night of the opera. I accepted the box and pulled out the cell phone, "Thanks."

"Everyone's number is already programmed into it, including the hospital if Carlisle doesn't answer his cell," Alice explained.

"Well, we'll leave you to get acquainted with your room then," Esme said, ushering Alice and Jasper out the door and shutting it behind her.

"Do you really like it?" Edward asked.

I knelt down and let Figaro out of his carrier, taking his food and water dish out as well and placing it beside the cat tower. "Yes, I love the color of the walls," I replied, watching Figaro explore the room stopping only to sniff at something here or there. _I'll put his cat box on the balcony,_ I thought to myself.

"Rosalie didn't know… about the painting, I mean," he said.

I stood up, moving to place Figaro's carrier in the closet, "Oh I know, it's just startling to see his paintings in a room where other people were. Before this I'm the only one who's ever seen the ones I kept."

"What did you do with the ones you didn't keep?"

"His mother and father got them," I answered. "I don't know what they did with them when they died." _I'm not sure I want to find out either… _

Edward smiled indulgently, "Would you like to start getting your things from the car?"

I sighed, "… Yeah, if I don't do it now, there's no telling when it'll get done."

He grinned, "You're probably right, c'mon."

* * *

**There you go, nice lovely filler chapter! ^_^'  
that's why this took so long to get out because it was a filler, sorry! :/ **

**I don't have a lot to say today. Meh. It's just been that kind of day. **

**Uhm... next chapter is Edward's POV... I think, I don't know yet.  
It could still be Wren's... I'm hitting road blocks right now,  
not writer's block, I know what's going to happen, I just don't  
know how to go about getting there... heh... Oh well, we'll see. **

**After I post this, I'm going to try and fix the links on my bio  
page that have Wren's character concept and the graphic for  
this story, so after you read this, check that out, yeah? :D**

**Also, don't forget to check out The Original Character Community  
that I made for the Twilight Fandom!! **

**I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed last chapter as well as  
subscribed and/or favorited this story, you guys rock! **

**keep it up? please review!?**

**-(gxr)-**


	18. Saving Grace

**Ch. 16 -- Saving Grace**

_"Hope" is the thing with feathers -  
That perches in the soul -  
And sings the tune without the words -  
And never stops - at all -  
_- Emily Dickinson

_Ah, silence_, I thought to myself with a smile. No one was home besides Esme and myself so the house was blissfully quiet. Alice and Jasper had gone to spend the day in Port Angeles, Edward was out and about and Carlisle was at the hospital. My mind was peaceful, no snippets of visions or thoughts and no flood of emotions caused by my unconscious reaction of copying a gift when I sensed or caught the scent of its original owner.

I decided to use this silent day to my advantage and unpack the boxes that Edward and I had gotten from his car a day or so previous. I'd just been too lazy to unpack yet.

"Wren?"

I glanced up from opening a cardboard box to Esme who was standing in my doorway. "Yes, Esme?"

"I was just wondering, are you terribly busy right now?"

I glanced around my room, still cluttered with a handful of boxes. My room looked more like mine now that more things had been unpacked, but the air was still and the space still felt un-lived in.

"I was just going to finish unpacking, but did you need me for something?" There was nothing Esme could ask me that I would deny her. Actually, there was nothing any of my new family could ask me that I would deny them.

She took a step inside, kneeling to scratch Figaro under the chin. I was surprised with my animal companion; he had taken more quickly to the Cullens than he had me. I pondered why this was and had come to the conclusion that Figaro knew I would not put him in a position where he would be harmed, nor would I let any harm come to him.

"Well, once or twice a month I take a couple batches of cookies to the children's ward at the hospital and I was wondering if you would like to come with me?"

I cast a glance at the mirror of my vanity. My eyes were entirely golden now, not a trace of the vibrant crimson that would betray what I was remained. As a vampire I had only been in a hospital once before in 1940 to say good-bye to my father who was on his deathbed and whose mind was so warped from dementia he didn't recognize me. He died a few days after my visit. I hadn't been able to stay long, and seduced an orderly on my way out to quench my unbearable thirst at the time.

But I was older, wiser, and stronger than I was then. I believed in my ability to control myself, without that belief I would have bled Bella dry the day she showed up at the house. I turned back to Esme and nodded, I could unpack anytime, I had the rest of eternity.

"We'll leave in a few minutes, the cookies are almost done," she told me.

Within ten minutes Esme and I were in her car and driving to Forks Hospital with four batches of four different kinds of cookies settled in the backseat. She hummed to the instrumental music drifting through the speakers while her fingers kept time on the steering wheel. It wasn't a very long drive, fifteen minutes at most, before Esme and I were pulling into the parking lot and walking in the front doors each of us carrying two plates of still-warm cookies.

"Hello, Mrs. Cullen," the nurse at the front desk greeted her.

Esme smiled beautifully, "Hello, Sharon, how are you today?"

The woman, Sharon, sighed and brushed a strand of dirty blonde hair from her forehead, "Busy as usual."

Sharon's eyes drifted to me, taking in my frame before coming to rest on my face. Her eyes widened slightly when she came to my own, most likely registering the fact that my eyes were the same shade as Esme and Carlisle's.

Esme seemed to notice where Sharon's gaze had drifted and motioned me forward, "This is Wren, she's Carlisle's niece."

_Oh, so they did come up with my cover story, fantastic! That saves me so much trouble. _I nodded once, "Hi."

Sharon nodded, "Is she living with you now as well?"

She nodded in return, "Yes, she's taking a year off from school and decided to live with us and go to school instate so she'll be able to apply as a resident." _Oh? _I sent a subtle questioning glance to Esme who shook her head so lightly, only I would have caught it. "Well, we must be off, the children get impatient when they know their sweets are on their way."

The nurse dropped the conversation and went back to her work while Esme and I walked on. "I had to tell her something believable, our family is a hot gossip topic in this town," she explained out of the corner of her mouth. "The next time we move, you'll start school with everyone, same year as Rose and Jasper most likely."

I nodded in understanding as we reached the children's wing of the hospital. "Hello, Mrs. Cullen," the nurses at the nurses' station chorused once we were within sight.

"Good afternoon ladies, how is everyone?" Another chorus of generalized responses. "Well, I baked cookies for everyone," she said, placing one of the plates in her hands on the counter.

Esme's conversation with the nurses went on for a couple minutes and eventually led to me being introduced and Esme telling the same white lie she told to Sharon to these women as well. I let my mind wander, taking shallow but even breaths and ignoring the dryness of my throat and mouth. The sterile blend of anesthetic and bleach was helping cover the scent of blood, but it was still there. The scent was simply duller, thinner, not as potent and slightly tinged with a sour smell of decay. This was the blood of the sick and dying, much different from the rich and sweet blood of the nurses…

_Stop, Wren. You're here to do a good deed_, I reminded myself, telling myself that I needed as much good karma as I could get.

"Alright, come on, Wren," Esme beckoned.

I followed her silently down the hall, carrying the two platters of cookies. I absently glanced in the rooms that had the doors open as I passed them. Few of them had family members crowded around the hospital bed, some were being checked on by their doctors and many were either reading a book or flipping through the TV channels. I turned back to Esme, stopping just short of running into her as she opened the door to the play room where the children who were well enough to get out of bed congregated to hang out, watch cartoons and whatnot.

"Good afternoon, children!" Esme called, getting everyone's attention.

The atmosphere in the room absolutely changed when they laid eyes on her. All of the children's faces lit up bright with smiles as they greeted her, and the younger ones not hindered by an IV crowded around her vying for her attention. After the cookies were handed out, I sat at a small table in a children's chair coloring in a Winnie the Pooh coloring book feeling oddly like Alice in Wonderland because of the small sizes of the furniture.

Every now and then I would look up at Esme and simply watch her. It was painfully obvious that although she had Alice and Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie, and Edward that she longed for a younger child, one she could truly care for and take care of the way a mother does. She treated these sick children like her own, just as she did me, giving as much attention to one as she did another, listening to them intently, indulging them in their childish wiles.

"S'cuse me?" a small voice tried to get my attention.

I blinked and turned my head toward a small boy no older than seven, clutching a black dog in one arm and dragging his IV with his free hand. He looked like an alien. He was ghostly pale, his skin hanging on his bones desperately. His eyes were too big for his round face and there was peach fuzz on his skull. He was going through chemo, I could smell it in his blood and his skin was soaked with an acrid stench of radiation. But he must have been getting better, otherwise his doctors wouldn't allow him to hang out with the other children.

"Yes?" I inquired, and he clutched his stuffed dog tighter, shrinking back slightly. I smiled, "it's alright. My name's Wren, what's yours?"

"… Ryan," he told me quietly.

"What can I do for you?" I asked him, pushing out the chair beside me and pushing the coloring book and crayons toward him.

Cautiously, Ryan sat down, not letting go of his stuffed dog, but merely switching it to the other arm. He pulled the coloring book toward him and started coloring; his mouth was twisted in concentration as he colored. Finally, after he was halfway done with the picture he took a breath and whispered quietly, "Are you an angel?"

I laughed quietly as I shook my head, "I'm afraid not."

Ryan looked up at me, his brow furrowed, "But you're beautiful like an angel."

"Beauty can be deceiving, keep that in mind," I advised him gently.

Then he did something odd, he grinned a gap toothed smile while shaking his head at me. "I don't believe that, not about you."

He cast me one last smile before he stood up and walked over to Esme asking him if he could have a cookie, since he hadn't gotten one yet. After he got his cookie, Ryan went and sat with a group of three other children. I watched him for a couple minutes before I stood up and walked over to Esme.

"I'm going to go head home if that's alright, Esme."

She looked up and nodded, "Alright, uhm, I think Edward is somewhere around here if you didn't want to walk home. Thank you for coming with me."

I smiled, "You're welcome."

I headed out of the children's ward, not picking up any trace of Edward as I headed to the elevator though I could smell Carlisle all over the place. With each floor the elevator opened, letting people on, or letting them off, but still I had yet to catch a trace f Edward's scent. Now, I didn't have a choice, taking a deep breath I let my mind expand, sifting through the many threads connected to me and finally stopping on Edward's, different from the dozens of others because no one else in the world had his voice. He wasn't far from my current location, if the looseness of his thread was any indication.

_Edward? Where are you? Esme told me you're around here somewhere. _

_Wren? I'm getting ready to leave, in the parking garage. _Edward's thoughts replied.

The elevator door opened again to the main lobby and I finally got a whiff of Edward's unique and sophisticated scent. Rolling my eyes, I realized that if I had waited another minute I wouldn't have had to reach out to him with my thoughts. I strode forward quickly, bidding farewell to Sharon at the front desk before hurrying to the parking garage where I found Edward leaning against his car, waiting.

"I thought it was your scent I picked up along with Esme's in the lobby, what are you doing here?" he asked, smiling lazily as I approached.

"She asked me to help her bring the kids cookies, and you?" I answered.

"Helping Carlisle with a couple patients and some paper work," Edward replied. "Were you on your way home?"

I nodded, "Yeah, Esme told me you were here too so I didn't have to wait for her."

"Alright, hop in."

"Did you finish unpacking, yet?" he asked me as he pulled away from the hospital.

I didn't answer him, I honestly hadn't heard him, I was too busy staring out the window and thinking about that little boy, Ryan. Although he had been direly mistaken for thinking I was an angel, he was quite inspiring. He was sick, dying, and yet despite the hand that fate dealt him, Ryan remained sweet and kind, not bitter and resentful of the disease slowly claiming his short life. At such a young age he had a truly pure and beautiful soul, and I found myself desperately hoping he would overcome his disease and live a long fulfilling life.

"… Wren?"

I blinked and turned toward Edward, "Yes?"

"Where were you, you were quite far away," he said, making the final turn into the driveway of the house.

I exited the car, "Thinking about a boy I met in the children's ward, his name was Ryan…"

Edward's head tilted quizzically, "Why were you thinking about him?"

I almost laughed again saying it: "He asked me if I was an angel and I told him I wasn't, he then told me that I was beautiful like an angel and I replied that beauty was deceitful." I hung up my coat, my prop, since the weather was getting colder before turning back to Edward, "When I told him that, he said that he didn't think I was capable of deceit."

"… Interesting," he muttered.

I rolled my eyes, "Tell me about it, it's been an interesting day."

I made my way to the kitchen, Edward following gracefully behind me. Picking up an empty spray bottle from the window sill above the sink, I filled it with water and headed to the sun room where Esme had a plethora of flowers and other small plants. The room was kept relatively warm and heat lamps were placed above certain plants ensuring that they would flourish even in the winter. Despite the many different flowers, the room smelled nothing short of heaven, the aroma and overall atmosphere was calming and serene.

I walked around the room spraying flowers and plants, watching Edward out of the corner of my eye as he examined the budding blossoms, making sure flowers that grew on vines didn't end up strangling themselves.

"Is there a reason you're following me, Edward?" I wondered, picking up a jasmine blossom and lowering my nose to it.

"You're interesting to watch, is that a problem?" he countered.

I scoffed, placing the now empty spray bottle on the small table between two wing back chairs, "I highly doubt that."

I stiffened slightly when I felt Edward right behind me. He gently moved the hair back from my face gathering all of it at the back of my neck, placing his hands just under my jaw on either side of my head and tilting it to the side so his mouth was at my ear. I swallowed hard, feeling his breath against my neck as the tip of his nose brushed just behind my ear.

"You're wrong you know," he murmured.

"Oh? What about?" I breathed and instantly cursing myself for it, but it was getting increasingly harder to concentrate with Edward ghosting his fingertips over my jaw line, down my neck and over my collarbones.

Edward spun me around and backed me up until the table was pressed against my lower back and I placed my hands on the top, not to steady myself, but to avoid having to place them on Edward. He brought his hand up slowly and rubbed the pad of his thumb along my lower lip and I suddenly realized the strategy of putting my back against something: I had run from him the last time we were this close.

"You're wrong about a number of things," Edward said lightly, "but the matter which I am speaking about, is you claiming not to be an angel."

I tried to turn my head, but Edward's hand was cupping my chin now, preventing me from doing so. "If I'm wrong about that, then you're wrong about claiming to be a monster; I am more of a monster than you will _ever_ be, Edward."

He smiled then, not the reaction I was expecting. "We're not talking about me, Wren."

Now I was beginning to grow cross, "Then what are we talking about?"

Edward's hand moved from my chin to the back of my head, bringing it forward to rest his forehead against mine. "You, love, I'm talking about you. My saving grace."

I looked down, "Edward, I can't save anyone, myself included. I couldn't even save myself from becoming this… _thing_, by simply dying. So how is it possible that you think I've saved you?"

He laughed once, but it was a laugh that told me I was being humored. Tilting my head forward he pressed his mouth to the top of my head while sliding his hand down my arm to pick up my hand. I lifted my head while he did the same with my hand and brought it to his mouth as well to kiss my palm. Edward's eyes met mine, shining brilliantly with intensity and passion. I suddenly felt like my skin was pulsing with electricity and if I were still human I'd probably feel as though I were about to faint.

"Is it possible that you honestly don't know what you've come to mean to me?" Edward asked, likely more to himself than me, but nonetheless the question startled me.

It couldn't be possible, I couldn't mean anything to him. But as I willed that to be the truth, I knew it would never be for Edward meant more to me than I let myself realize and for the first time since Michele died I actually saw myself sharing an eternity with someone other than him. Without really knowing it, I had given my eternity to the man standing before me and that in and of itself should have been the biggest indication to me to be with Edward, but still the irrational fear of losing him somehow remained ever present. Worse yet was the very real, rational fear that I would forget about Michele and the love, however short lived, I shared with him.

Edward must've caught the train wreck that was the thoughts running across my mind because he took a breath and said, "I'm not asking for anything, we have eternity, and I'm patient; just know that I will follow wherever you go. I didn't want to believe Alice when she told I would love again because I was confident no one I would meet could compare, and then you show up here, someone I had _already met_."

I laughed, though I could feel my eyes beginning to sting with tears. "Regular kismet, huh?"

Edward chuckled, "You could say that. And you, you brilliant, frustrating, beautiful woman _are_ an angel. It's because of you that I am no longer walking in darkness. Wren, you've given me hope again, you are my correlation of salvation and love; you are my fate, my forever."

"But --"

He put his fingers to my lips, stopping me, "I will always love Bella, just as you will always love Michele, it is inevitable. However, it pales in comparison to what I feel for you right now, in this moment and what I will continue to feel until the end of my existence. And you are not the single point of my existence, you are the reason for me to prove I deserve my existence. I don't ever want to waste our days and nights, I don't ever want to forget to tell you I love you or how much you mean to me."

With that, Edward lifted my face to his and pressed his lips firmly against mine, sending a fire raging through my entire body. I let myself fall into the ecstasy of kissing him, entwining my arms around his neck while he pulled me flush against him. And while his hand moved up between my shoulder blades it occurred to me that he didn't expect me to tell him I loved him in return, somehow he sensed I wouldn't have been able to say it and therefore didn't put me through the humiliation of telling him I couldn't, but it wasn't because I didn't feel the same.

It seemed the visions Alice had about me and Edward were one step closer to becoming true.

* * *

**OMFG FINALLY!!! YESSS!!!**

**Just so everyone knows, Wren and Edward kissing was not supposed to happen until  
the chapters were at least in their twenties, but Edward's character was being  
extremely difficult with me, you have no idea how many times I re-wrote the  
second half of this chapter. {cranky} So you better enjoy it, damnit!!  
And don't think that just because they kissed here that fluff is going to be  
making a regular appearance because it won't happen, sorry! **

**On another note, I have_ literally_** **been up ALL NIGHT writing this chapter,  
it is currently 5:43 AM here in the eastern standard time zone and I am  
exhausted. X_X  
which is why I am going to straight to bed after I post this, haha.**

**Uhm... oh yeah, updates are going to be kind of slow, unfortuantely,  
as I am now working two jobs and I only have time off three days a week  
which I am usually spending catching up on the sleep  
my chronic insomnia doesn't let me get. .**

**Dododododo... Uhm, next chapter is for sure in Edward's POV  
and it'll likely go from when Wren met him at the hospital to beyond  
where this chapter ended so we get the kiss from his POV too! Yay! **

**Onto reviews! I would like to thank... **Edward'sGirlForEternity, TwilightEclps,  
twialleyholic-OCD, BleedmetoINSANITY, SapphireJKH, Bananar333, **and**  
Haley Cullen- The Vampire Girl **for reviewing, you guys are awesome  
please keep it up!? But I swear to god if I don't get a lot fo reviews  
for this chapter I might spaz out, haha. I'm totally kidding... kind of... _**

**Urgh. It is time for bed before I pass out. **

**Please review!? **

**-(gxr)-**


	19. Mistake

**Ch. 17 - Mistake **

_Are you the new person drawn toward me?  
To begin with, take warning, I am surely far different from what you suppose;  
Do you suppose you will find in me your ideal?  
Do you think it so easy to have me become your lover?  
Do you think the friendship of me would be unalloy'd satisfaction?  
Do you think I am trusty and faithful?_  
- Walt Whitman

"Bye Edward!" Sharon called as I passed through the first floor lobby, fishing my key from my pocket.

I smiled at her and waved, "See you later, Sharon."

She smiled in return and went back to the chart in her hand. As I passed in front of the counter I caught Esme's soft, lavender scent, along with what I thought might have been Wren's distinct cinnamon and honey , but that couldn't be possible because she was supposed to be at home unpacking. I shook off the thought, trudging into the dreadful chilly weather. It was nearing October so the temperature was beginning to drop significantly, though it made no difference to me.

I spun my keys on my finger, letting my mind wander as I headed to my car. I had come down to the hospital to help Carlisle with some paperwork that was beginning to pile up on him and checked up on a few of his patients while he was busy with others. It was definitely rewarding, and not for the first time I understood what my father got out of being a doctor.

_Edward? Where are you? Esme told me you're around here somewhere. _It was Wren. I was surprised to say the least, she was supposed to be at home, but she sounded as though she wasn't very far.

I stopped short, _Wren? I'm getting ready to leave, in the parking garage. _

I reached my car and waited against it for a couple minutes before I spotted Wren heading toward me. She pulled her coat tighter around her throat as she entered the parking garage, though even if she was human I don't think it would have done much to keep her warm considering the holes in her jeans.

"I thought that was your scent I picked up along with Esme's in the lobby, what are you doing here?" I wondered, feeling a smile break across my face.

"She asked me to help her bring the kids cookies, and you?" she replied, stuffing her hands in the pockets.

"Helping Carlisle with a couple patients and some paperwork," I told her. "Were you on your way home?"

Wren nodded, "Esme told me you were here too so I didn't have to wait for her."

I nodded once, "Alright, hop in." Wren climbed in the passenger seat of my Volvo and the two of us began to head home.

As we pulled out of the parking garage I asked her if she had finished unpacking yet, since that was what she was supposed to be working on today, but she didn't answer me. Her thoughts were dodgy, yet they were all centered around someone named Ryan and how good he was. I hated the jealousy that boiled in my stomach, twisting and churning, causing me to grip the steering wheel tighter. Wren stayed in her own little world throughout most of the drive home, which was admittedly a little irksome as I had tried to get her attention more than once.

"… Wren?"

Maybe it was quiet and curious tone of my voice that caught her attention because finally: "Yes?"

"Where were you, you were quite far away," I commented, turning into the driveway.

I stopped the car and she climbed out, already unzipping her coat, "Thinking about a boy I met in the children's ward, his name was Ryan…"

And now I felt foolish as she let her thoughts open a bit more and a picture of Ryan swam to the surface for the boy was no more than eight years old. But the picture of him grinning a gap toothed smile made me wonder, "Why were you thinking about him?"

Wren walked into the house, chuckling the slightest bit, before she explained what had transpired between her and this little boy who had captured her attention. It was truly ironic, that this little child didn't think she was capable of deceiving anyone and yet a vampire's number one skill had to be deceit. It's long been said that children are more attuned to their "sixth sense", the one that tells them something isn't quite right, that little prickling that raises the hairs on the back of their necks. This is mostly caused by their rampant imaginations and their belief that nothing is outside the realm of possibility. So how had this one young boy managed to ignore his sense of self-preservation, break off from the group and speak to Wren on his own?

"… Interesting."

"Tell me about it, it's been an interesting day," Wren replied with a roll of her bright ochre eyes.

I followed Wren into the kitchen, thoroughly entertained by her confusion regarding Ryan. _Me, an angel, completely ridiculous! _she thought vehemently as she picked up a spray bottle and filled it with water. _Maybe the chemo and radiation is having an effect on his mind as well._ I almost laughed, Wren was so funny to watch with that line she pressed her mouth into and the way her eyebrows slanted together slightly.

She turned from the sink and strolled into the small sunroom which served as makeshift greenhouse, filled with colorful and beautifully scented flowers. I watched her walk through the room, spraying flowers while I pretended to examine blossoms not entirely unaware of Wren watching me out of the corner of her eye. Ryan was beyond correct, Wren was an angel, and in my opinion the most enchanting thing in the room.

Wren knelt down to smell a white jasmine flower, watching me from under her lashes. "Is there a reason you're following me, Edward?"

_Because I might die if I miss even one heartbreaking look like that. _"You're interesting to watch, is that a problem?" I lied.

Wren set the spray bottle down and turned away from me, "I highly doubt that."

Turning away was meant to be a dismissal, a hint to drop the topic at hand, but I had the perfect opportunity on my hands, one that might not come again for quite a long time. That thought compelled me to move forward until my chest was mere inches from her back. I chose to ignore the noticeable stiffening and straightening of her spine as I tangled my hands in the mass of her silken coal hair and moved it away from her face. I felt her throat move under the very tips of my fingers as she swallowed when my nose brushed her ear.

"You're wrong you know," I whispered, moving my hands down and over where her collarbones winged out and curved around her neck.

Wren took a small breath, most likely to calm herself, but it came out in a rush as she asked, "Oh? What about?"

I turned her around to face me because I couldn't stand not seeing her face, her eyes. I pressed her against the table behind her and she leaned back, placing her hands on the table allowing her to see me fully. The look in her eyes was cautious, guarded. Slowly, as if of its own volition, my hand rose and I ran my thumb lightly over the swell and curve of her bottom lip.

"You're wrong about a number of things," I told her affectionately, "but the matter which I am speaking about is you claiming not to be an angel."

Wren tried to turn from me then, but the grip I had on her chin, a grip that would've shattered a human jaw prevented her from doing so. "If I'm wrong about that, then you're wrong about claiming to be a monster; I'm more of a monster than you will _ever_ be, Edward."

Michele came to her mind then, of him cradled in her arms as the light left his eyes, her lips stained red with his blood. Her eyes closed tightly as Wren tried to banish the memory back to the darker corners of her mind that I only saw when she allowed entrance. Her effort was Herculean, but she managed to suppress it, and not for the first time was I so in awe of her control that I could not help but smile.

"We're not talking about me, Wren."

Her eyes snapped open and they were alight with irritation, "Then what are we talking about?"

I leant forward, tangling my hand in her hair once again and leaning her head toward me until our foreheads touched. I couldn't help but find it funny that she was trying so hard to avoid this conversation, for surely she knew how it would end, but Wren also knew there was no way to avoid it; I had seen my opportunity and I ran with it.

"You, love, I'm talking about you. My saving grace."

Wren closed in on herself then, avoiding my eyes, "Edward, I can't save anyone, myself included. I couldn't even save myself from becoming this… _thing_, by simply dying. So how is it possible that you think I've saved you?"

How was it possible I _think_ she's saved me!?How had she _not_!? From the first day she was here, Wren had managed to distract me entirely from my ever present suffering. She saved me from myself, given me a second chance and for that I would be forever in her debt. I don't know the exact moment I realized I loved her, I only now knew that I did. Entirely. Unabashedly.

_But -- _"Is it possible that you honestly don't know what you've come to mean to me?"

I hadn't realized I'd asked my question aloud and was instantly made aware of my mistake when Wren's thoughts went wild to the point that it felt like she was screaming at me. She was terrified that she would forget about Michele if she allowed herself to truly love another person. Wren was also afraid that, as was a pattern in her life, she would lose me somehow. This unnerved me for a reason I couldn't pin point, all I knew was that I had to put her mind at peace.

I took a breath and told Wren that I didn't expect anything from her, and it was true, I could wait for any form of reciprocation; we had all of time. The catch was that should she someday choose to leave, I would not be far behind. I told her I hadn't wanted to believe Alice when she told me I would love another because I was so certain no one I would meet would compare to Bella, but someone I had _already met_, well, that seemed to be the exception.

"Regular kismet, huh?" she said through a forced laugh.

Her attempt at lightening the mood made me so happy, I could've flown if she wished it because it meant that she wouldn't try to run again. "You could say that. And you, you brilliant, frustrating, beautiful woman _are_ an angel. It's because of you that I am no longer walking in darkness. Wren, you've given me hope again, you are my correlation of salvation and love; you are my fate, my forever."

Confusion and uncertainty flooded her eyes, "But --"

I stopped her, pressing a finger to her lips as they moved to form the her next word; ready to reassure her before she finished her sentence. "I will always love Bella, just as you will always love Michele, it is inevitable. However, it pales in comparison to what I feel for you right now, in this moment and what I will continue to feel until the end of my existence. And you are not the single point of my existence, you are the reason for me to prove I deserve my existence. I don't ever want to waste our days and nights, I don't ever want to forget to tell you I love you or how much you mean to me."

And before my words had the chance to sink in, before she thought I hadn't meant what I said when I told her I didn't expect anything from her, I sealed my lips to hers. To my surprise, for all her posturing and hesitating, Wren was ready for me, curling her arms around my neck and fisting one hand in my hair as I pulled her closer, desperate to feel every inch of her against my body.

I was surrounded by Wren. She was all I smelled, all I tasted, all I felt. The desire for her to be closer, and closer still was near overpowering. I was barely aware of the table tipping over as I pressed Wren into the wall behind it and brought her leg up around my hip. Decades of pent up sexual frustration was steadily emerging as her honey-laced kisses melded into one after another, after another and somewhere in the back of my mind it occurred to me that _I couldn't break her_. Wren's hip bone didn't fracture or splinter under the pressure of my palm, I didn't draw blood as I nipped and sucked at her lips as though they were my sustaining life force.

Suddenly, Wren's hands weren't in my hair anymore, they were suddenly on my chest and I could feel her gently pushing me away, as she moaned my name. I pulled back, but she made no move to remove her leg that wound around my side as she closed her eyes to chase away the lustful glaze and bit her lip and it was possibly the most seductive thing I've ever seen, and she wasn't even trying.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, and although I didn't need to breathe, I sounded winded.

Wren tilted her head against the wall behind her and didn't answer for a long moment, but I felt the muscle and sinew in her leg move before she lowered back to the ground. She swallowed before she opened her eyes, now a darker shade of bronze than I remembered a few moments ago, and leveled me with an even, deadpan stare. "You stopped kissing _me_, Edward."

The strained lack of emotions to her words frightened me somewhat, and she took my momentary stunned silence to slip around me and leave the room, pressing her hand to her mouth. I grew furious with myself as I let her words sink in and the meaning behind them take root because she was right, I _had_ stopped kissing _her_. I leaned my palms against the wall and hung my head thinking what a fool I was because the more I kissed Wren, the less restraint I possessed; and the less restraint I possessed, the more I kissed Wren the way I always dreamed of kissing Bella - completely, without fear of harming her.

And now it occurred to me that Wren shouldn't be afraid of losing me, but _I_ should be afraid of losing _her._

* * *

**Gah, I'm sorry this is coming out so late, but working two jobs  
and also picking up an extra shift on Friday's kind of owns my ass right now. **

**Anyway, when I haven't been sleeping or working, I was trying to finish  
this chapter, it was surprisingly difficult, considering that I am female  
it was hard to write Edward kissing Wren. Oh well, hopefully it's not that bad. **

**And speaking of, trust Edward to mess it up by thinking about the WRONG person. **

**Uhm... OH! I got an idea for another Twilight fic. It's actually going to be a  
companion to _Death is a Disease_, take place after this one has ended  
and be a JasperOC. So if I post it along with this one, then there will be  
minor spoilers for this fic, but nothing too bad.  
_Let me know if you'd be interested in reading it! :D _**

**Okay! Reviews!! I love you guys soo much, it's not even funny! I would like to thank: **

**apcl09  
..clouds  
unknown player  
BleedmetoINSANITY  
edwardisperfection92  
Haley Cullen- The Vampire Girl  
TwilightEclps  
SapphireJKH  
twialleyholic-OCD  
Isabella M.C.  
It'.  
EdwardsGirlForEternity**

**Thanks for reviewing guys! Keep it up!?  
**

**Please review! Happy 4th!! **

**-(gxr)-**


	20. Silent Treatment

**Ch. 18 - Silent Treatment**

_Can you blame me that I did not see  
Beneath his burning kiss  
The serpent's wiles, nor even hear  
The deadly adder hiss?_  
- A Double Standard, by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Wren didn't speak much to anyone for the next couple days unless she was spoken to first. She finished unpacking without further procrastination and all of us kept a closer eye on her as we watched her eyes continue to darken and her cheeks hollowed out, revealing the thirst she was ignoring. And whatever emotions were coursing through her psyche, along with whatever she told him was causing Jasper to send me _the_ most withering glares. Alice wasn't too happy with me either, as she had seen what was going to happen and did not appreciate the way that I screwed it up.

On the fourth or fifth day of the silent treatment from Wren, I was coming out of my bedroom and heard her cell phone ring a couple times before Wren answered it.

"Hello?"

"_Hi, Wren!_"

"Oh, hey Rose!"

I groaned, _Fantastic. _That's just who Wren needed to talk to, _Rosalie_, the one member of my family who possessed the least amount of patience with me. I knew eavesdropping was wrong, but I couldn't help it, I had to know what Wren was going to tell Rose and also how Rose was going to react. The two women talked about general things at first: how things were here in Forks; how Rose and Emmett's honeymoon was going; the things Rose has bought shopping; the things _Alice_ has bought Wren while shopping, etc.

Finally: "_So, tell me why Alice called and told me you needed someone to talk to." _

This time, Wren sighed, "I swear to god, Alice can't keep a secret for the life of her."

Rose laughed, "_Nope. So c'mon, what did my idiot brother do __**this**__ time?_"

This was the part I was dreading, hearing Wren disclose what happened between us with my own ears, watching her pace in front of the open crack of her door, instead of through Alice or Jasper's mind. As she told the story, I hated myself even more because I could actually hear the emotions in her voice in tandem with the memory playing through her mind. When Wren got to the part where she realized I had stopped thinking about her while I was kissing her, I heard Jasper groan somewhere in the house as he thought, _Again!? Come on darlin' stop __**dwelling**__ on it. _

His tenderness toward Wren made me smile until I heard Rose: "_He did __**what**__!? Are you kidding me, that ass! I can't __**believe**__ him, ugh! I'm sorry, honey._"

Wren had stopped in front of the crack in the open door so I could see her standing there with the phone pressed against her ear, with her head hung. She raised her free hand and passed her fingertips over both her cheeks as if to wipe away tears, and seeing that, I realized just how much my actions had affected her. Now, I wanted nothing more than to sweep into the room, take her up in my arms and simply hold her; however, I knew if I did that, Wren would know I had been listening.

Wren shook her head, "It's okay, it's not really his fault. I mean, I've had decades of practice to disassociate my feelings for my singer from that of a current lover, Edward hasn't. So, I understand why it happened, but it doesn't mean it hurts any less."

"_That doesn't make it okay,_" Rose told her with surprising gentility. "_If Edward's with you, then he should be __**with you**__ completely; body, mind, soul, and heart - not thinking of a lover who dropped him like a rock, it's unhealthy._"

A wry smile touched the corner of Wren's mouth which was the largest range of emotion she's shown in four or five days. "Yeah, I guess. Thank you for calling, Rose."

"_No problem, sweetheart._"

The two hung up and Wren tossed her phone onto the chaise lounge. Figaro walked over to her and nuzzled against her leg before looking up at her expectantly and giving a small meow. Wren looked down at her cat affectionately, kneeling to run her hand along his furry body.

He looked up at her again and Wren sighed, turning to look over her shoulder at the painting on the wall, "I know, you're right. Stop cowering."

She disappeared for a moment, I heard a drawer scratch open before she walked to the door carrying a leather folder that looked rather old and worn. I had time to disappear into the kitchen before Wren noticed me standing there.

"How was Wren's conversation with Rosalie?" Alice inquired with a smirk on her thin lips as she flipped a page in a fashion magazine.

"It helped her in someway, that's all that matters," I replied nonchalantly, pulling the newspaper toward me.

Alice and I lapsed into silence as we read our respective periodicals, both of us selectively ignoring the notes of the piano drifting into the room, both of us assuming it was Esme who was playing. That is until Esme strolled into the kitchen carrying a vase of freshly cut irises and placed them on the island.

"Why don't you go see who's playing the piano?" she suggested with a small smile curving the corners of her mouth.

I stood up and strolled out of the kitchen, thinking that it couldn't have been Jasper because he prefers string instruments (the violin being his favorite), and Carlisle was at the hospital. Gently, I eased open one of the slender double doors that connected the music room to the hallway and peered inside.

Wren was sitting at the piano barefoot, in cut-off shorts and a sweatshirt with the sleeves pushed up; her hair in a messy braid falling over one shoulder. I couldn't help but stare at her as she glanced at the tattered folder and gingerly pressed out the notes she read there, slowly I realized that it was her music folder; and my piano never looked more beautiful than with Wren sitting at the bench.

_Sing… please, open your mouth and sing. _I unconsciously urged her, continuing to watch as she caressed the black and white keys as if they were a lost love.

As she softly played the notes I watched her mouth move with the words that fit with the chords she was playing. This was why Wren had first caught my attention all those year ago when I first saw her at that speakeasy. The way music visibly changed her now that she allowed it since she thought no one was around to witness it. Wren sat up a little straighter, her shoulders were more squared, and her head didn't _hang_, but tilt gracefully to watch what her hands were doing.

Wren suddenly stopped for a moment and brought her hands to rest in her lap. She inhaled deeply, held the breath in her chest for a moment and released it before laying her hands back on the keys. When her lashes drew back there was a new determination that shone from her fathomless onyx eyes, made more intense by the bruise-like shadows beneath them.

At this point, I think both Wren and I knew if she opened her mouth to sing, she wouldn't let it break her.

_I've spent too many decades fearing my first love… no longer. Michele's death made me stronger, he wouldn't want me to give up on something I truly loved because of him. If anything, I should have been rejoicing that I had something that reminded me of him. _

I held my breath, listening to the conviction of her thoughts and watching as she lifted her hand and played the introduction, I knew that this was the moment I would hear Wren sing again.

"_I am outside and I've been waiting for the sun, with my wide eyes, I've seen worlds that don't belong. My mouth is dry with words I cannot verbalize; tell me why we live like this… Keep me safe inside your arms like towers; tower over me…_"

At first, the words were quiet because she was unsure of herself, waiting for the pain that brought Michele's memory, but it never came. Nonetheless, it was beautiful, the sound of her voice was more fantastical than I remembered it; no wonder Michele asked her to sing while he painted. I leaned against the door lightly so it wouldn't fall open and alert her to my presence, while I listened to her voice gain volume and confidence.

"_Cause we are broken! What must we do to restore our innocence, and oh, the promise we adored? Give us life again, 'cause we just want to be whole! … Lock the doors, 'cause I'd like to capture this voice that came to me tonight, so everyone will have a choice - and under red lights, I'll show myself it wasn't forged; we're at war, we live like this… Keep me safe inside your arms like towers; tower over me…_"

Memories and images came with the song, like watching a picture montage, but with more meaning because these pictures were never meant for anyone else's eyes. Intimate moments between Wren and Michele, smiling and laughing with Rose or Alice; talking with Jasper, a rare smile touching his mouth; playing a video game with Emmett and her standing with her arms thrown up in victory; tending to the greenhouse with Esme and hunting with Carlisle…

And then…

"… _Tower over me, tower over me… And I'll take the truth at any cost!_"

Memories of her and me. Some of them were the smallest fragments, things other people wouldn't consider pertinent in the grand scheme of things - a brush of the hands, a meeting of gazes, a lingering smile. And then there were the others that made her playing grow more passionate - us talking at the piano, holding hands in the car, dancing in the apartment building foyer, and then finally her lips pressed against my own in a kiss that I still tasted on my tongue.

"… '_Cause we are broken! What must we do to restore our innocence, and oh, the promise we adored? Give us life again, 'cause we just want to be whole!" _

Wren played the outro as she let the final note fade from her lips. After the song finished, she sat there in the silence still charged with the music and song now stuck in my head.

_I know you're there, Edward._

I stepped into the room, trying desperately to brush off the wounded look she gave me; like a puppy that'd been kicked. "And still you sang?"

She shrugged, "It was only a matter of time before I started again, I just needed the right incentive I suppose."

I ignored the snub, it wouldn't do me any good to get angry at her right now. "You sang beautifully."

Wren's lips tilted in a cocky smirk, and here was the performer aspect of her personality that I hadn't born witness to in near nine decades. "I usually do."

She stood from the bench and began gathering her folder and placed it atop the piano. I took a step forward, unconsciously it seemed, I couldn't stand the distance between us. "Wren, I just --"

Her hand came up and stopped me, "I know, Edward. You're "so sorry", "deeply contrite", "truly apologetic", etcetera, etcetera."

One corner of my mouth came up in a smirk as I watched her step from behind the bench and face me, "I never would've thought you a cynic, love."

Wren's hands came up and planted themselves on her hips, a defensive stance. "I consider myself a realist, there's no sense in lying to myself now is there?"

I bristled, "I never lied."

Triumph touched her eyes as she turned back to the piano, "I never said you did."

Sometimes I hated how clever Wren thought she was. In three long strides I was across the room and standing behind her, my arms snaked their way around her waist, one arm coming up to cross her chest and pulling her back against me. Wren tensed momentarily, but I felt her resign herself to my touch, lean back.

"I meant everything I said, Wren," I insisted against her ear.

Wren threw her elbows back forcefully causing me to take a step back and release her. She spun, her eyes ablaze with determination and annoyance, her lips parted to speak, but just as the first sound left her mouth --

"Wren?"

Both her and I looked to the door where Alice was standing, "Yes, Alice?"

"Would you go hunting with me?" she asked, and it seemed to me that Alice was purposely trying to avoid looking at me.

Wren's ebony orbs flickered to me, "_Now?_"

Alice nodded, "Mhm!"

Her eyes closed and her eyebrows raised, "Alright, why not?"

"Yay! Race you!" Alice then took off leaving Wren standing in the piano room with me.

She sighed, shaking off her momentary confusion before starting to follow Alice, as she passed me, I caught her by the upper arm, "Wren…"

Her lips pursed, _I know you meant it, that's why it hurts. _

She ripped her arm from my grip and without another glance, walked away from me. I watched her go, wondering why Alice suddenly got the urge to hunt because she didn't look the slightest bit thirsty.

* * *

**Alright, a much quicker update this time! Go me! Yeah!! :D  
****I've been working diligently on this chapter which is why **  
**I updated so quickly, haha. **

**And yay, Wren's singing again! The song that she sang  
is "We Are Broken" by Paramore, which I found fit  
the way Wren was feeling entirely by accident because  
it was going to be a different song, butI was going through  
my playlist (I have music ADD and listen to like a minute of a song  
before I change it) when "We Are Broken" popped up and I thought  
to myself _'Oh, how fitting!' _and decided to use it! **

**And the reason I actually wrote the lyrics out in dialogue is  
because I cannot stand the fact that in some fics, if a character  
is going to sing something, the author writes out the stanzas...  
like they just copied and pasted from a lyrics site. So irritating  
and such a waste of space. **

**Alright, I'm done with my rant now... haha. Uhm... next chapter  
is in Wren's POV, and I got a couple reviews on the last chapter  
asking where Bella was/what happened to her... and I found that  
kind of ironic because we're going to find out next chapter!  
So that means Bella is going to gradually make her way back into the  
story... unfortunately. XD ... However that also means that this  
story is near its end!! D: **

**Moving on! Reviews! My favorite part! :D :D  
****Big thanks goes out to... **

TwilightEclps  
BleedmetoINSANITY  
unknown player  
Haley Cullen- The Vampire Girl  
SapphireJKH  
Edward'sGirlForEternity  
twialleyholic-OCD  
apcl09  
A Dahlia For Bree

**Thank you guys for being so patient with me  
and my long periods between updating! You guys are  
fantastic and I couldn't ask for better readers!! :D  
**

**Review!? **

**-(gxr)-**


	21. What Happened to Bella

**Ch. 19 - What Happened to Bella**

_I, as sinned against as sinning,  
take small pleasure from the winning  
of our decades-long guerrilla war.  
For from my job I've wanted more  
than victory over one who'd tried  
to punish me before he died,  
and now, neither of us dead,  
we haunt these halls in constant dread  
of drifting past the other's life  
while long-term memory is rife  
with slights that sting like paper cuts.  
_- Love Poem for an Enemy, by Richard Katrovas

As I left the house, I pushed my problem with Edward to the back of my mind and focused on why Alice suddenly wanted to go hunting with me because she usually goes with Jasper. Something was definitely up, that was for sure, but what did it have to do with me?

When I finally caught up with Alice, we were near the Alaskan/Canadian border, farther from the house than I thought was entirely necessary. For awhile, Alice stayed under the pretense that we were on a hunting trip and I watched as she slew three moose and I must say that Alice hunting is quite an interesting site, such a foil to what she is like in everyday life.

Finally after my thirst was fully slaked, I jumped up onto a low hanging branch and cocked my head to the side, "Why are we doing this Alice?"

The fairy chuckled once, "We needed far enough away from Edward for me to tell you this and since you've been neglecting your thirst for the past couple days, I thought this was a good idea."

That caught my attention, "Tell me what, Alice?"

She thought for a moment, and I thought that now would have been a handy time to be able to copy Edward's mind reading abilities; however, we were much father than two hundred yards away from him for me to be able to do so. Alice closed her eyes and nodded once before looking back up at me, "I can't really explain it, but copy my gift and you'll see what I mean and maybe you can make more sense out of it than I can."

I did as she asked, the mental twist in the back of my mind that allowed me entrance to another vampire's mind to replicate their particular gift, whatever it may be. It's been proven that humans only use about ten percent of their brains, well, what gives a vampire the ability to have a gift (besides a certain aspect of their personality) happens during their transformation. The vampire venom alters not only the main five senses, but the mental capacity as well, it opens the mind further to allow parts of the human brain that previously had not been used to be accessed. Marcus explained it to me like the way telecommunications once worked, with an operator connecting one phone to another, but the venom is connecting parts of the brain that didn't once connect.

My particular gift, not only allowed me entrance into another's mind (like Edward's), but also permitted me to copy the part of their brain that housed their gift; sort of like a photographic memory. This was why I became Aro's new plaything, because not only was the part of my brain that allowed me to have a gift open, but I had another area specifically for storing a gift I copied. He had wanted to see the capabilities and limitations, benefits and consequences of having such an ability.

I copied Alice's gift, and immediately the visions hit me, but they were so varied and so fast that I couldn't catch many of them and had to release her gift as soon as they left me. But one thing was very clear from the glimpses that I did get: trouble was on its way to Forks in the form of the Volturi and I was involved. When I came to this conclusion, I immediately began to sift through the Volturi threads connected to me; however, I was both disappointed and relieved to discover that no one, not Jane, not Alec, not Demetri, nor Felix, or anyone else were anywhere near enough to Forks or mine and Alice's current location to cause any undue distress.

So: "What do they mean?"

Alice shrugged, "I wish I knew, but I figured you'd like to see them for yourself since they seemed to involve you as well."

I nodded my understanding and asked, "How long have you been having them? Have you told Carlisle?"

"I have, and I've been having them for a couple days, actually."

"… Then why didn't you tell me a couple days ago when they started?"

At that question, Alice smiled, "Because you were about to say something particularly nasty to my brother, and you would have regretted it later, so I butted in."

"I was? I wasn't even sure what I was going to say. What was it?"

She shook her head, "I don't think so, just because you didn't say it that doesn't mean I'm going to tell you what it was."

"That bad, huh?"

Alice simply nodded.

**-:- **

Alice and I continued to hang out well into the evening and we started to head home after the sun set. I loved Alice, even if she had an unhealthy shopping habit, she knew exactly how to make me feel better. Her and I decided that we could take our time getting home so we took the run back at an easy pace, just talking about random things.

When we were closer to the house I stopped and halted Alice as well. As I was barefoot, I could feel the vibrations through the soles of my feet. The vibrations grew heavier until I had to cover my nose and mouth to prevent myself from inhaling that god awful stench that reminded me of wet dog.

"Wolves," Alice whispered out of the corner of her mouth, her nose scrunched.

Then I saw them moving through the trees, seven "wolves" the size of bears. If it weren't for their stench and the fact that they were my natural enemies, I would have been in awe of their poise despite their size because they moved easily over the terrain their paws barely skimming the ground.

"Wren!"

I had never seen creatures like these. Children of the Moon were different and far more fearsome creatures in comparison to what I was seeing now. And while I was distracted by the seven wolves weaving through the trees, a force that felt equivalent to getting hit with a wrecking ball slammed into my side and sent me tumbling through the dirt and mud with a mass of growling russet fur. Then I was on my back, my wrists pinned to the ground trying to blink the mud out of my eyes as I stared into the surprisingly human eyes of the wolf that had me against the ground, his teeth bared, his fur bristled.

All humanity left me as I stretched up and snapped my razor sharp teeth at him, "Get off me, dog!"

"Jake, get off of her!" Alice screeched.

"You better listen to her before I rip out your throat!" I roared, bending my knees and placing my feet on his stomach and kicking him off with quite a bit of force. I heard a sickening crunch as he howled and went flying off of me and I instantly sprang to my feet, I would not be caught off guard again.

Just as Jake got to his feet and was ready to pounce, another voice shouted out, "Jacob! _Enough_!"

This must have been the Alpha of the pack, because Jake's ears went flat against his head and his tail went limp as he turned and disappeared. The only female among them snorted and scoffed, "I _told_ you he should have stayed behind."

Alice turned to them, eyes blazing in all her tiny fury, "_What_ is the meaning of this, Sam Uley!? We are no where near the boundary line and well within the treaty to be here, I demand an explanation!"

"As do I. I do not particularly appreciate being blindsided and attacked when I have done nothing to warrant it," I added icily. I was also not pleased with the fact that I was now more than half covered with mud and dirt.

Sam turned to me, "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met."

"Wren Masen."

"You're staying with the Cullens then?" he asked.

I nodded, "I'm taking up permanent residence now, yes. And before you ask, Carlisle explained to me the treaty and I adhere to their diet as well."

Sam nodded, "I apologize for Jacob, he believed you may have had something to do with the reason we were on our way to your home."

"And what reason is that?" Alice demanded.

Sam glanced down and shifted his weight, obviously unsure if he should tell us. After a moment or two, he glanced back up, "Bella is gone."

"What do you mean she's _gone_?" Alice and I asked in unison.

"What do you _think _we mean, leech?" a boy on the end sneered, his hands balled into fists.

I felt a growl vibrate in my chest, "Watch it, mangy cur."

"Paul!" Sam snapped turning to the boy who had spoken.

I turned back to Sam, "And what made Jacob think I had something to do with it?"

Sam went on to explain that Charlie, Bella's father, had called Jacob asking if he knew where she was because he hadn't seen her since he left for his overnight shift the day before. Sam and Jacob went over and inspected the area surrounding the Swan house and picked up the smell of a vampire outside as well as within Bella's room and around the store where she worked. They had been on their way to our house to inform Carlisle what happened as well as to ask him if he knew of any other vampires staying in the area.

For a second time that day, I searched through the threads connected to me, pulling on Bella's. I should have known the moment she'd been taken beyond the state line and I would have, except because I knew very little about her personally and had only been around her for not more than two minutes, her thread was very weak and not as reliable. I concentrated hard on it, reigning it in only to discover…

"She's all the way across the country, in the process of crossing the Atlantic." Alice turned to me and I read the look in her eyes, but I shook my head at her unspoken question, "It can't be them, I would recognize who had her."

"Them? Do you mean the Volturi?" Sam asked.

"And how do you know where she is?" Jacob reappeared, a hand pressed tenderly to his ribs.

Alice turned back to Sam and choosing to ignore Jacob, nodded, "Yes, but Wren says it can't be possible."

"Why's that?" Jacob spoke up again.

"Because I am a Tracker which means if I've met you, I know where you are at any given time. I would have known the instant one of them stepped into the state and none of them have."

"Are you _sure_?" the female wolf inquired.

"Don't insult me, my tracking skills are second only to one other person and that is the _Volturi_ tracker himself," I told her.

Something clicked then. Being a tracker himself, Demetri would have known that the instant him or any other member of the Volturi came to Washington I would know.

"They sent someone new then? Someone you haven't met?" Jacob replied, seeming to follow my train of thought.

Alice shook her head, "The Volturi are not like a country club, they are an elite organization of very old and powerful vampires, they don't just offer an invitation to anyone who walks in."

The wolves left with mine and Alice's assurance that we would tell Carlisle what was going on. Alice and I also agreed between ourselves that we would try our best to keep this information from Edward. He would be furious when he found out, but nonetheless, we thought it was better to keep it from him than to let him know and have him running off and doing something stupid and irrational.

We just hoped we were doing the right thing.

The two of us tried to be as inconspicuous as possible when we got back home, but there was really no hiding the fact that I was covered in dried mud and leaves. It stiffened the braid in my hair, was cracking on the side of my face and made my clothes extremely uncomfortable. The only thing I wanted to do was rant and rave about how Jake had blindsided me, but knew if I did so Edward would hear me and then I would have some explaining to do.

"Lose a wrestling match?" I heard Edward ask me as I strolled in through my balcony door.

He was sitting on my chaise lounge with Figaro sitting in his lap. I wanted to be irritated with him for being in my room, but knew it was really quite pointless; mostly because I was pleased that the dusty smell of dirt overpowered the smell of dog from when Jake had tackled me. And now that my thirst was quenched, my mood had improved a great deal, I was more in control of my emotions now and I would be far less moody than I had been the last couple days; something I knew would please Jasper at least a little bit.

"You could say that," I replied, peeling off the sweatshirt to reveal a black tank top that had also been stiffened by the dried mud.

"You're in a better mood," he observed.

"Hunting tends to do that," I quipped.

"Did you have fun hunting with Alice?"

I nodded, "Yes. The only reason she insisted I go hunting with her was because I was apparently about to say something rather nasty to you."

"Oh?"

"Mhm. But she wouldn't tell me what it was, so I can't say it anyway."

"That's good news for me then, I suppose."

I shrugged, "Never know, just gives me more time to come up with something worse to say."

"You're still angry."

"Why _wouldn't_ I be?" Now I was starting to lose my temper, but then felt the edges of my quickly thinning nerves calm slightly, enough to keep the sharpness from my tone.

Edward sighed and stood up, making Figaro jump from his lap with a disgruntled meow. Brushing the cat hair off his jeans he said to me, "Bella is my past. You are my present and future, I hope you come to understand that."

Then he left, leaving me rolling my eyes and throwing my sweatshirt across the room. My life was never going to be simple, was it?

* * *

**Sorry for the late update... I've had a rough week...  
A friend of mine was involved in car crash,  
he swerved to avoid another driver and  
hit an on ground transformer. When he went to  
check the damage done to his car, he stepped on the live wire.  
... Unfortunately he didn't make it. **

**I'm going to be a little morose for awhile. Please bear with me... **

**-(gxr)-**


	22. Summons

**Ch. 20 - Summons**

_Then we shall rust in shade, or shine in strife,  
And fluctuate 'twixt blind hopes and blind despairs,  
And fancy that we put forth all our life,  
And never know how with the soul it fares.  
Still doth the soul, from its lone fastness high,  
Upon our life a ruling effluence send.  
And when it fails, fight as we will, we die;  
And while it lasts, we cannot wholly end.  
_- Palladium, by Matthew Arnold

Trying to keep things from a mind reader is not the easiest task in the world. Alice, Carlisle, and I hated having to monitor the things that crossed our minds, or think about our thoughts before we actually thought them. Carlisle, having been with Edward the longest was able to do this a little more efficiently than Alice or I. That's why when Bella's father came by the house two days later, Alice and I hadn't been quick enough to get Edward out of the house in time.

… Livid doesn't really cover Edward's reaction once Charlie left. I think the only thing that prevented him from killing either me or Alice was the fact that neither of us confessed to coming up with the idea to keep him out of the loop. And I was sure that Edward was going to be gone as soon as he finished tearing Alice and I new ones had it not been for Carlisle telling him (in a very un-Carlisle-like tone of voice) that he was forbidden from leaving and that we would handle this situation like a family. Not that Edward would have known where to start looking, as no one offered up their suspicions as to Bella's location and he's no tracker either.

We all left Edward to his own devices for awhile as his demeanor was making Jasper quite unpleasant and we could hear him throwing nothing short of a tantrum in his room. Things calmed down a little bit a day or so later when I dared to check on him. His bedroom door was cracked open just a bit and as I pushed it open I was met with the devastation that he inflicted on his room. The couch was turned over, a bookshelf laying on the ground with the books spread around it like casualties, pictures were knocked from the walls, CD's were strewn all around the room.

"You know you're going to have to clean this up?" I said to his still figure at the window.

Edward glared over his shoulder and turned back to the window, "Get out."

I took a step forward, "Edward --"

He rounded on me, onyx eyes harboring anger and distress, "When were you going to tell me!? When she was already dead!?"

"Of course not! We were going to tell you when we knew more information, telling you prematurely wouldn't have been wise because you would have reacted like…" I trailed off, unable to bring myself to say the rest of my thought.

"Reacted like what?" he demanded.

"Like, well, the way you are. What would you have done had you found out the same day Alice and I did, hmm? You would have given no consideration to anything any of us had to say and simply gone gallivanting off in search of her without the slightest clue where to begin." I told him.

Panic filled his expression, hurt; frustration at being trapped here unable to do a thing. "You don't --"

"Understand?" I felt my anger bristle just the slightest bit: How could Edward of all people think _I_ didn't understand?

Unintentionally it seemed, I copied Edward's mind reading ability and was immediately met with Jasper's irritated thought of: _People in this house are far too high strung. _That was immediately followed by Edward's thoughts of Bella, of her in danger, of her needing him, of the thousands of possibilities of what could be happening to her. I shoved his gift away, trying my hardest not to feel jealous at Edward's worry over Bella.

I released a breath I didn't realize I was holding as I crossed Edward's room, being careful not step on anything else and break it further. I placed my hand on his arm gently, "I do understand, Edward, believe me I do."

"I just feel helpless, I want to know where she is and that she's safe," he whispered.

"I know," I said, leaning my head on his shoulder. "I can tell you that she's alive at least, her thread hasn't snapped and while this may be a good thing, I have no way of knowing the condition she's in."

Edward glanced at me, puzzlement clear in his dark eyes. "Why are you helping?"

It may have seemed like a rude question, but I understood what he meant. He didn't truly understand why I was helping Bella: my competition for his affection. I wished I could have told him the truth, that being, that I didn't particularly care what happened to Bella and that the reason I was helping was because I knew what it was like to have your Singer die, and I didn't want to see him broken beyond repair should that happen to her. I wished I could have told him that I was helping him because I loved him beyond my common sense and that I would do anything for him.

I wish I could have told him anything but what I _did_ tell him: "I don't know."

I ignored the look Edward gave me, not wishing to explain my answer, simply turned and walked out of his room.

**-:-**

Our worst fears were confirmed the following day. I was probably the first one that knew. I felt three distinctive, thick threads shortening, loosening, getting closer - and quickly. Three threads connected to three people I had hoped I'd never have to deal with again. _They can't be coming here, _I tried to tell myself, but I knew I was being far too optimistic as I felt the threads getting shorter and shorter.

Then, I heard Alice: "Wren!"

_Fuck! _" Carlisle!"

I was down the stairs, and out the front door with Carlisle, Alice, Esme, Jasper and Edward by the time they showed up. Jane, Demetri, and Felix stood at the bottom of the stoop dressed in their Volturi Guard uniforms, all three looking far too smug for my liking.

"Can we help you?" Carlisle asked them.

Jane reached into her pocket and produced an envelope sealed with Aro's seal. "This is an official summons for Carlisle and Edward Cullen to appear before Aro, Marcus and Caius for a Judgment Hearing."

"Under what charges?" I demanded, taking the envelope, tearing it open and reading the charges.

"Breach of Vampire Law," Demetri replied with a twisted smirk as he watched my expression drop to one of despair. "Edward exposed our kind to a human and Carlisle let him, as the leader of The Olympic Coven and Edward's sire, he should have discouraged this and is thus equally responsible."

Unfortunately, as I read the summons, I could find nothing unjustified in them. I knew the Laws set forth by Aro, Marcus and Caius as well as any of the Volturi (as I'm sure Carlisle did as well). When I lived in Volterra I made sure I knew I the ins and outs of being an immortal and that included knowing the laws front to back. Though Bella had done most of the research herself and come to her own conclusions, Edward confirmed her suspicions; by doing so he exposed our kind. Exposing vampires to a human that you did not intend to kill or turn was strictly forbidden.

"Does that mean you have Bella?" Edward growled, seemingly unaffected by the fact that his life was potentially on the line.

"Yes," Carlisle replied, taking the summons from me. "The Law requires all parties be present at the Hearing."

It was clear from everyone's reactions that no one thought this far ahead while Edward and Bella were dating. They all assumed the two of them would be together forever; which I don't understand how that would have happened when Edward refused to turn her.

"You were warned two years ago that by the time we checked in, Bella was to be changed or there would be consequences. We're checking in and these are the consequences," Felix chimed.

I almost laughed as I sunk to the step I was standing on, not because it was funny but because the more information I learned about this situation, the more hopeless it seemed. Before Felix had spoken I thought I would've been able to discuss a plan with Carlisle, Edward and possibly Alice; however, now that I knew Aro had already given them one out to this problem, I wasn't so sure. And having discovered that Aro had already given them a second chance meant that he was fond of Edward, and knowing _that_, I already knew the outcome of the hearing without Alice's gift.

"They weren't supposed to check in for years!" Jasper protested.

"Wrong," Jane said. "You were never told when we would check in."

I watched the smirk on Demetri's face get increasingly wider and suddenly I knew why this was happening. "You son of a bitch! You _planned _this!"

"You have no way of knowing that."

Before I realized what happened, I had thrown myself in Demetri's direction with every intention of tearing his head from his shoulders. And before I could make contact, I had dropped to the ground screaming in agony. The pain coursing through my body was unbearable and then it was over and I was left twitching in the dirt.

"Wren!" Esme was at my side, "Are you alright, dear?"

"I'm fine, thank you," I ground out through my teeth as I stood.

"The date for the Hearing is five days hence," Felix informed us.

"See you there," Jane directed at me with a nasty grin.

I stood, watching them leave, rotating my now stiff shoulder thinking how much I hated Jane's gift because it left my joints stiff and my muscles twitching. Demetri planned this the moment he saw Edward with me in Chicago; he had gone directly back to Volterra and told Aro, Marcus and Caius that I had converted to the Cullens' diet and from there the three of them thought it was high time to see how Bella was doing. Now the only thing to consider was: who was this _really_ about, Edward and Bella or me? To Aro, Marcus and Caius, it was about Edward and Bella; to Demetri, it was about me.

"Now what?" I heard Alice wonder aloud.

* * *

**Short, I know. **

**I'm sorry, I'm still not feeling quite like myself.  
But writing seems to be the only thing that's making me somewhat happy. **

**Review? **

**-(gxr)- **


	23. Reasoning

**Ch. 21 - Reasoning**

Tenderness and rot  
share a border.  
And rot is an  
aggressive neighbor  
whose iridescence  
keeps creeping over.  
No lessons  
can be drawn  
from this however.  
- _Tenderness and Rot_, by Kay Ryan

After the Volturi emissary left, we all gathered in the dining room to discuss possible solutions to the problem we've just been handed, while Esme made a phone call to Rosalie and Emmett to let them know what happened. We all sat at the table with the exception of Wren, who stood at the window staring out, a thoughtful expression furrowing her eyebrows together. The expression her face was deceiving however, because I could not hear her thoughts echoed in my mind unlike Carlisle's reasoning, Esme and Alice's panic and Jasper's contempt. Wren appeared stoic and calm which made me wonder what she was giving off to Jasper.

I was trying to remain as calm as I could despite the fact that every fiber of my being was screaming at me to run to Bella and save her. Jasper was sending calming waves toward me, each one a little stronger than the last which was helping me think straight.

After a short while, I could take no more of the silence. "What are we going to do?"

Wren glanced back for a moment while Carlisle replied, "There's not much we can do except go to the Hearing."

Outraged, I cried, "So we're just going to leave Bella there!?"

"We don't have another option, Edward," Jasper insisted softly. "… You brought this on us."

"_What_!? How can you say _I _brought this on us!? Had it not been for _you_, I never would have left and _she_ never would have left me!" I roared.

Jasper looked positively cowed that I would bring up the incident at Bella's birthday. I knew it was a cheap shot, but what else could I do when he blamed this entire situation on me?

"Boys, please!" Esme pleaded.

"Knock it off!" Wren finally stepped away from the window and strategically placed herself between Jasper and myself. Neither of us had realized that we had stood up from our chairs and now we were both poised for a fight. "If we fight amongst ourselves we're going to be of no help to Bella." _… Even if Jasper is partially right. _

"What do you mean he's right!?" I spat.

Wren sighed and looked to Carlisle who came to her aid. "It was never truly doubted that Bella would become one of us someday, whether you liked it or not, Edward. By bringing Bella into our lives, Edward, we knowingly exposed our kind to a human and while at the time we intended to turn her --"

"The Volturi won't see it that way." Wren added.

Carlisle nodded, "They'll see our "dismissal" of Bella from our lives as an act of willful neglect; that is, neglecting to act on behalf of our kind and eliminate the exposure risk that leaving Bella alive presented."

"You're not suggesting that we should have killed her!" Alice cried.

"That's the preferred way of dealing with an exposure risk involving humans," Wren stated calmly. "Eliminate the risk, ask questions later."

I rounded on her, unable to believe the things I was hearing coming out of her mouth. She herself had engaged in what the Volturi would see as an "illegal" relationship with a human. And yet, she had the audacity to try and tell me that I was wrong for not killing the woman I once loved more than anything? I thought out of everyone, Wren would at least be on my side because she had been in my shoes at one point.

"And you _agree_ with this!?" I demanded.

She looked away from me, "I know you think Aro, Marcus and Caius are Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse, but they've been leading _nosferatu_ for thousands of years and they made these laws to ensure that we can thrive and flourish as a minority species living alongside the human race. And if they don't punish one vampire that has broken just _one_ of these laws, it could lead to sedition andeven infighting, which could in a worst case scenario could lead to the extinction of our kind."

All of a sudden I was seeing Wren in an entirely new light. At that moment it didn't matter to me how much she may have hated Demetri or Jane or any other member of the Guard; what mattered was that she was defending the law that could potentially end Bella's life. To me, while she stood there and defended them, Wren was no better than any member of The Volturi.

Who was this and where was the opinionated woman I had fallen in love with?

"Those "laws" are as archaic and barbaric as The Volturi themselves!"

"Those _laws_ keep humans from finding out about us and attempting to lead a world-wide extermination," Jasper said. "You may not agree with them, but they _have_ kept us safe. And you're willing to risk that for _one_ human? Think Edward."

I took a breath to berate Jasper as well, but Wren's voice lowered to a soft tone stopped me, "As a vampire who hates what they are, I don't expect you to begin to understand, Edward."

I stormed from the room, I couldn't calmly listen to any more of their reasoning for another second. I would have gone to Volterra right then to retrieve Bella myself, however the problem remained in the fact that _both_ Carlisle and I had to be present for this ridiculous hearing. So now the only thing I could do was wait for five more days before I learned how Bella was doing.

**-:- **

Playing the piano was one thing that really never failed to calm my nerves. The notes rang low and angry as I played out my frustration. No one had come around me for a couple hours so it was a shock to me when I felt the bench jostle as someone sat down next to me. I didn't acknowledge Wren's presence, merely continued to play while I thought to myself that it was ironic that a significant amount of mine and Wren's heart-to-hearts happened in the music room.

Within a couple minutes, Wren was playing the notes that clashed with the ones I was playing, several octaves higher making quite an interesting sound. Unfortunately, it was wearing on my already thin patience.

I stopped playing abruptly, "_What_ do you want?"

This was one thing that irritated me about Wren, the fact that she could never leave well enough alone. She never gave anyone time enough to fully think through anything before she came barging in trying to fix everything! I'm glad she processed things so quickly, but some of us needed a little more time.

Her amber eyes narrowed "First of all," she said holding up a finger, "do _not_ speak to me like that. Second, you're acting like a petulant child!"

"How am I expected to act when I learn that I have to leave someone I care about in the hands of a group of sadistic vampires!?"

"Like an adult! You're over a hundred years old for god's sake! They won't kill her, they'll keep her well taken care of, the human they keep as a secretary will take care of her. For the most part, Aro, Marcus and Caius follow their own rules and everyone else is too afraid to disobey. She'll be fine."

"You talk like you know."

"You don't spend any amount of time in Volterra without learning some things," she said. "Do you think Carlisle would leave her there if he thought for a second that she would come to harm?"

She did have a point there. Carlisle and Esme thought of Bella as another child, and if they thought that she was in immediate danger, well, I wouldn't have been sitting in the music room with Wren.

She took my silence as an agreement and nodded her head, "Exactly."

"Then maybe you can explain _yourself_," I nearly spat at her, showing how disgusted I truly was.

"… Excuse me?"

"Defending the Volturi like you were another of their lap dogs when you, yourself were once involved with a human, it was disgusting."

One of Wren's eyebrows went up in a perfect arch as the tendon in her jaw tensed. All of a sudden, I felt that I was going to feel very foolish once she was done speaking. "I was merely telling it how it is, sugar coating isn't going to help anybody least of all Bella. And regarding me being "involved" with a human: the time during which I spent with Michele, he never knew what I am, he didn't ask questions and I didn't tell him. It was a very narrow line but as long as I didn't confirm any suspicions that he had, I was abiding by the law."

Wren pushed herself up form the bench and began to storm from the room, but before she reached the door she spun around once more. "And unlike _you_," she sneered, "I always intended to turn Michele when the time was right, and if I wasn't confident I could do it myself, I was going to find another who could."

Why did it seem that Wren was continuously teaching me lessons? Because she was willing to turn the man she loved, did that make her better than me, or worse? Better, I suppose. I was not willing to change Bella because I was not sure that I wouldn't lose control, but Wren was willing to risk that to have him with her forever. But I guess that since Michele was dead, that the moral conundrum of the situation no longer mattered.

Sighing, I pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers. Wren could be so infuriating sometimes.

"Edward," I looked up at Carlisle standing in the doorway to the music room. "I just got the plane tickets, we're going to leave the day after tomorrow, alright?"

I only nodded.

* * *

**Review, please?**

**-(gxr)-**


	24. Interlude

**Ch. 22 - Interlude**

_Transfixed or transformed by this pain? We never know because  
Who can slip through the gate without throwing a shadow  
Toward both the past and present? Fire, flood, famine—  
All we've wished upon them a thousand times, still they inch  
_- Thinking About the Enemy, J. P. White

Bella turned her head away from the window when she heard a soft knock on the door. As the door swung open, she turned away again. It was only Sophia, the new human secretary in Volterra.

"I brought you dinner," she said, her voice soft as though she were worried she might startle Bella. Sophia placed the sterling silver tray on the bed and Bella watched in envy as her perfectly kempt auburn curls spilled across her shoulders.

"Thank you," she replied, standing from the chair. She liked Sophia, she didn't make Bella's imprisonment as miserable as it could've been, or as uncomfortable. Bella had only seen one member of the Volturi since she'd been in Volterra and that was Aro himself to explain why she was there.

Sophia looked up and smiled, "You're welcome. There's grilled salmon, rice, and steamed carrots."

Bella hated how her mouth watered when Sophia lifted the tray lit and the smell wafted across the room. She hated that she was entirely dependant upon her captors to keep her healthy during the time she was there. For the first couple days, Bella refused to eat, refused to sleep, refused to even change from the clothes she was taken in. It was Sophia who convinced her that it would probably be within her best interest to cooperate.

"Are you going to need anything else?" Sophia asked, folding her hands in front of her.

Bella shook her head, "No, thank you."

Sophia nodded before turning and heading to the door. Bella thought it was strange that she didn't see the underlying fear in Sophia's eyes like she had in Gianna's. It was almost as if Sophia knew she would one day join the Volturi instead of hoping she would. And suddenly, Bella grew very curious as to what happened to the previous secretary, even though she already had an idea.

"Sophia?" she called. The woman turned her almond shaped eyes to the younger girl, "What happened to Gianna?"

Sophia looked down and for the first time Bella saw an emotion other than complacency cross her face. "Unfortunately, Gianna out grew her usefulness." Then she turned and briskly walked out - Bella heard the lock click on the other side of the door.

Bella sighed as she sat on the edge of the plush bed and began to eat slowly. She couldn't deny it was a beautiful and luxurious room, with a beautiful view of the city from the French door windows, but it was nothing more than glorified prison cell. To her, this lush room may as well have been four walls of stone and bars.

Had this happened a couple years ago, Bella would've been positive that Edward was going to rush to her rescue and she wouldn't have been trapped in this room for days. But now, she wasn't so sure. She had broken his heart, so why should he save her?

_What have I done? _Bella wondered miserably, her head falling into her hands. Was Volterra doomed to be her final resting place?

As Bella ate, the sun began to set, turning the sky into a watercolor masterpiece. Suddenly, the French doors that had been propped open slightly to bring in a breeze thrust open and a figure clad in dark clothes swung from the roof outside and landed lithely on the floor, all without making the slightest noise. Bella watched in shock as the figure lifted its head and she was met with a set of deep ochre eyes rimmed thickly in long dark lashes.

It was the vampire girl who was staying with the Cullens! What did Edward say her name was…?

"What --"

"Don't ask," she sighed irritably as she stood slowly, pushing the ebony tendrils of her hair back. "Are you okay? Have you been treated well?"

Bella nodded, "Yes. And I'm sorry, but I don't remember your name."

"Wren," she said shortly. "Do you have anything with you?"

"No."

"Good, that's going to make this easier." Wren shrugged out of the black sweatshirt she had been wearing and tossed it to Bella, "Put that on, it'll disguise your scent."

"What are we doing?"

"I'm getting you out of here, somewhere you'll be safe. If you stay to the end of the Hearing, you'll likely not get out here alive."

Bella pulled on the sweatshirt and asked, "Does Edward know?"

Wren's eyes darkened the slightest bit at the mention of Edward. "No. He would've loved to have done this himself, but he is currently with Carlisle trying to find a way to save your life and mortality." She turned her head back in Bella's direction, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah."

Wren nodded once, "Good, now listen to me very closely: Should you become a hindrance in the process of getting you to where we're supposed to go, I _will_ leave you behind so I suggest you keep your mouth shut and keep up as best you can because you have another thing coming if you think I'm carrying you."

Bella had to admit that she was a little shocked to hear someone speak to her like that. It's been so long since anyone has been that short and crass with her, not even Leah was that matter of fact with her anymore. Bella watched as Wren made her way to the door and took a hold of the doorknob in one elegant white hand. Effortlessly, Wren turned the knob until Bella heard the metal crunch and Wren brought her hand away taking the entire doorknob with it.

She swung the door open and turned back to Bella, but looked past her to the window just behind her. "We need to go, we have about two hours to get you on the other side of the city before the Night Guard starts their shift."

Awkwardly, Bella hurried after Wren, but where Wren made no sounds with her footsteps, Bella sounded like an elephant. Her walk was clumsy and clamoring compared to Wren who seemed to glide over the marble parquet floor. Try as she may to stay in stride with the vampire girl, it never failed that Wren would end up at least five or six paces ahead of her. When Wren noticed that Bella kept trying to walk beside her she turned her head and growled, "Bella, this is hard enough without you right next to me."

Bella nodded in understanding and stayed back. She was so accustomed to vampires (mainly the Cullens), not being as bothered by her potent scent. It had honestly not occurred to think that Wren would be so affected. But the closer she looked, the more she saw the signs of her thinning control. Her eyes continually and steadily darkened (along with her mood), her jaw seemed to be perpetually clenched, and to top it all off, at times Bella could've sworn that Wren was trembling.

_Maybe whatever the Volturi had planned was the least of my worries… _Bella thought, cautiously eyeing Wren's back.

**-:-**

The fresh air seemed to help Wren quite a bit, instead of being in an enclosed space with Bella and her potency. But even then, Bella could still see that her patience and control was growing thinner still. The untamed gleam in her eyes grew animalistic the further into the city they went. And although Bella was well aware that it was illegal to kill a human within the city, she wasn't so sure that Wren would care just as long as the burning in her throat was satisfied.

Then she remembered that when Edward had saved her from the three men in the alleyway he had asked her to distract him and it seemed to help him quite a bit. But for the life of her, Bella could not think of a single thing to distract Wren, whom she knew literally nothing about, with.

The only thing that came to her mind was: "Why are you helping me?"

Bella almost missed the laugh that escaped between Wren's lips before she said, "Do not presume to think for one moment that I am doing any of this for you."

"Then why --" but before she could finish her next question, Wren silenced her.

"We don't have much further, go ahead," she told Bella. Cautiously, Bella crept beside Wren and looked to her right and left before she ran across the street to the next darkened alley. Wren followed almost immediately after. "Let's keep moving."

A few moments later, Bella took the opportunity to ask her question again. "Then why are you doing this? Clearly you don't like me. So what is _Edward_ to you, that you would risk so much to save me?"

Wren spun, and in the half light of the alleyway, Bella could see that she may have overstepped a boundary. For the first time in her stay in Volterra, Ball truly feared for her life looking into the darkening eyes of the girl who was supposed to be saving her life. Wren's teeth were bared, clenched and her fists were tight as she stared down the younger, shorter, human girl.

"… Edward is my sire," she hissed. "He _changed_ me."

Bella felt as if the very air she had been breathing had been knocked right out of her and for the life of her she could not seem to inhale enough to take a breath. So instead, she simply stood there like an imbecile, staring at Wren with her mouth open in shock.

Edward had changed her!? He had done to Wren the one thing he expressly refused to do to Bella. She suddenly found herself hating Wren, and Edward for that matter. That the two of them shared something she and Edward never had, nor would they ever.

"That's right, Bella. I'm the reason Edward refused to change you, because he had already taken _my_ life. Edward being my sire is the _only_ reason I am helping, not out of want, but because I am compelled to by the bond I share with him. What affects him, affects me, and your death would certainly affect him," Wren continued. "Now, let's _go_ before we waste _more _time."

But that couldn't be all of it, Bella knew. There was something else. And it took her a few more moments to figure out what it was. And when she figured it out, she wondered why it had taken her so long to see it.

"You love him, don't you?" Bella whispered, but she knew Wren heard it.

When Wren didn't answer, and chose silence instead, Bella had her answer.

They continued in silence a few more minutes. And then suddenly, Wren stopped and held out her arm to signal Bella to stop as well. And then suddenly, Wren swore under her breath and picked Bella up, swinging her over her shoulder and ran taking several turns before setting the girl back on her feet. Bella took a moment to regain her bearings before Wren's face came into full focus.

"What's going on?"

"You need to listen to me," Wren said hurriedly. "Keep going down this alley and take the first right you come to, then take the next left and don't stop until you'll run into your friend Jacob and he'll take you to Rose and Emmett in Spain and from there, they'll take you back to Forks. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, but --"

"There's no time!" Wren shook Bella forcefully. "Just go! _Don't_ look back and _don't_ stop running no matter what you hear!"

With that, Wren gave Bella a forceful shove down the alley and watched as Bella began to run. The next sounds Bella heard, made her clap her hands over her ears. There were yells and shouts, and the thundering sounds of stone slamming into stone.

And somewhere in her, Bella found herself thanking Wren for all that she had done and hoping she would be alright.

* * *

**In case you're confused, I jumped ahead in time a bit for this chapter.  
****BUT DON'T WORRY, I WILL BE GOING BACK TO COVER WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN  
LAST CHAPTER AND THIS CHAPTER!  
****I just really wanted a chapter in Bella's POV and this is the only way I saw how to do it.  
The next chapter goes back in time a bit, but there's nothing wrong with that.  
**

**And since I covered Bella's escape/rescue in this chapter,  
I'll likely not do it in Wren's POV as well. Well... idk, maybe.  
What do you think? Let me know! **

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and been so patient with me!! **

**Reviews make me happy!**

**-(gxr)-**


	25. Anxiety

**Ch. 23 - Anxiety **

_I had the idea that the world's so full of pain_  
_it must sometimes make a kind of singing._  
_And that the sequence helps, as much as order helps—_  
_First an ego, and then pain, and then the singing._  
**- **Faint Music, by Robert Hass

Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm my nerves. It was finally the day that Carlisle and I were leaving for Volterra. We would be there by tomorrow night due to the red eye, non-stop flight we were taking. I zipped my overnight bag just as Carlisle appeared at my doorway.

"Are you almost ready? We'll be leaving in a couple minutes."

I nodded, "Yes, I just want to say good-bye to Wren."

"I'll be in the car. Let me take your bag," he said as he reached out and grabbed my bag.

Running my hands through my hair, I made my way to Wren's bedroom trying to prepare myself for whatever may happen between the two of us. The door was closed, but I could see the shadows dancing underneath it. I rapped on the door twice before I let myself in.

Jasper and Wren both turned to look at me as the door swung open. Wren was perched on the chaise lounge with her elbows on her knees while Jasper stood before her with his hands planted firmly on his hips. The expressions on their faces were unreadable, but it was clear from the tension in the air that I had walked in on, and interrupted a heated conversation and that Jasper wasn't too pleased with the direction it was headed.

"Am I interrupting?" I asked, looking between the two of them.

Just as Jasper opened his mouth, Wren stood up, "No. Jasper was just leaving."

Rolling his eyes, he turned and leveled Wren with a piercing glare but she did not back down. After a moment he scoffed, "Fine, I'll go. But you asked for my advice and here it is: this is a bad idea!"

She nodded once, "Well, thank you for the advice."

"You're impossible!" he snapped before storming out of Wren's bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

"What's a bad idea?" I asked slowly.

Wren shook her head, "Nothing. Are you and Carlisle getting ready to leave?"

"Yeah, I just came to say good-bye."

"Well, good-bye." Wren said shortly.

I took a step toward her, reaching out to take her hand, but she moved it just out of my reach. There was a pain in her eyes that I couldn't comprehend as she lifted them to mine. "Don't be like this, Wren," I begged her.

"How do you expect me to be, Edward? Happy? I'm sorry I can't manage that particular emotion right now."

"I _have_ to go," I reminded her.

"Don't you think I know that!"

I was fighting with myself whether or not to turn and just leave. She understood that I had to go, I ultimately didn't have a choice in the matter. And I couldn't believe that Wren was getting jealous that I had to go to Volterra to save Bella's life. Unfortunately, I also let that line of thought seep into my mind.

"This has nothing to do with me being jealous of anything! Do you honestly think I am that shallow!" she screeched, having apparently copied my gift.

"Of course not!"

"Just go, Edward! _Go_!" Wren shouted then turned her back on me.

Driven by my sudden irritation, I took a couple steps forward and roughly grabbed Wren by the upper arm, spinning her around to face me. Angry goldenrod eyes met mine, but beneath that, Wren looked tired if that were possible. Not tired in a physical sense, but emotionally, mentally as if she'd spent too much time thinking about something.

Of its own volition it seemed, my hand moved from its grip on her arm to her shoulder, her elegant neck, then finally to cup the side of her face. I half expected her to resist as I lifter her face to mine and gently touched our lips together in a light kiss. As I pulled away, Wren kept her eyes closed and rolled her lips together.

"I'll be home in a few days," I whispered, hoping to alleviate whatever concerns or anxiety she had.

She nodded and replied, "I know." When she opened her eyes the anger was gone, but the worry, the weariness and the hurt were still there.

"Edward?" I heard Carlisle call.

"I have to go," I told Wren, kissing her forehead before turning to leave.

"Edward?" she said, softly. When I turned, she had her back to me again and was looking out the window, "You should know… Aro let Bella walk out of Volterra alive and human once already, and he may favor you and Carlisle, but don't think it's going to happen twice. Marcus and Caius will not allow it."

"I have to try, Wren."

She nodded, "I understand."

I left the room with a sigh on my lips and the feeling that Wren was planning something. And if it was something that Jasper was getting upset about, then it had to be something dangerous, but what? I pondered this as I headed down the stairs meeting Alice, Jasper, and Esme in the foyer. I hugged both my sister and Esme and Jasper shook my hand wishing me well.

I exited the house, meeting Carlisle by the car. I didn't say anything to him about saying good-bye to Wren, but by the expression on his face when he saw me, I didn't really have to. As I pulled open the passenger door, I stopped, being caught off guard and overwhelmed by the sudden pungent and foul odor in the air. It only hit so hard because we were downwind from the source, which came into view a few moments after the owner of its scent.

"Jacob," Carlisle greeted him with a nod. "What can we do for you?"

"I want to come with you when you get Bella," he said, unconsciously adjusting the bag on his shoulder.

"I'm afraid that's quite an impossibility, Jacob, I'm sorry," my father told him.

"Why?" he demanded, gritting his teeth.

"Because the Volturi will kill you if they find out you're there," I told him, not trying to be harsh. I understood he wanted Bella back in Forks and for her to be safe, but he had to understand that this time, he couldn't be of any help.

"So? Then they won't know I'm there," he replied.

"You're rather difficult to hide, and any vampire within a thousand feet of you will know what you are," I told him. "I'm sorry Jacob, you cannot come, but we will bring her back."

Without another word, Jacob turned and ran back into the forest.

**-:- **

Jacob ran hard and fast away from the Cullen's house, he couldn't handle the crushing emotions that had a stranglehold on his heart. And yet, though anger pumped through his veins, he resisted and fought against the impulse to phase. He didn't need the Pack in his head right now.

Within a few minutes, he picked up the sickeningly sweet scent that he knew all too well that sent the hairs on the back of his neck raising to their ends. Skidding to a halt and spinning around, he came to face the new vampire girl that had come to live with the Cullens as she stopped herself as well.

Jacob felt himself readying to poise for a fight, while she took a step backwards and held up her hands. "I didn't come here to fight."

"Then why were you following me?" he growled, feeling his fists clench and unclench.

Tilting her head, the vampire girl looked him over as if she were sizing him up. "You want to rescue Bella, don't you?"

"Carlisle said I couldn't," Jacob replied, feeling his shoulders drop.

She placed her hands on her hips, "Do I look like Carlisle?"

Jacob looked her up and down trying to figure out if he could trust her, if rescuing Bella was really what she was going to try and accomplish. What were her real motives?

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"Tell me what other choice you have, Jacob?" she wondered. Jacob didn't answer right away, simply looked at her. After a couple moments she said, "There really isn't a whole lot of time to mull this over, I need an answer like, _now…" _and then when he didn't answer immediately: "Going once… going twice…"

"Alright," he said, stopping her. "I'll go."

A smile spread across the girl's face, one Jacob didn't exactly like. It was a smile that he likened to a child's when they got away with something. "Okay then, meet me on the outside of town in about an hour… We have a flight to catch."

* * *

**I KNOW IT'S BEEN A REALLY LONG TIME AND I AM SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSO SORRY!  
There really is no excuse that I can give you guys that would suffice. **

**Just know that I am back and that I am _hoping_ to have this story finished  
soon! **

**Thank you to everyone that has reviewed/alerted/favorited so far, as well as to those who  
reviewed/alerted/favorited while I was away! I love you all! **

**Please review? **

**-(gxr)-**


	26. The Reason

**Ch. 24 - The Reason **

_The night is darkening round me,  
__The wild winds coldly blow;  
__But a tyrant spell has bound me,  
__And I cannot, cannot go.  
_- The Night is Darkening Round Me_, _Emily Jane Brontë

Jacob and I were about a day behind Carlisle and Edward. By the time they arrived in Volterra, it would be two days before the Hearing, but by the time Jacob and I arrived it would be the day _before_ the Hearing. The timing was actually quite perfect because the less time Jacob spent in Volterra, the better; the last thing I needed was another vampire who happened to see or smell him…. and truth be told I couldn't wait to be rid of him. It wasn't that I didn't like Jacob himself, if I ignored to the best of my ability his scent and what he was, he wasn't that bad. He genuinely seemed to love Bella, as evidence I'd like to present the fact that he was working with his natural enemy to save her. And the two of us had come to a mutual understanding that hating one another wouldn't really do anybody any good in the end.

We only needed that one day to set up Bella's rescue and escape. I would be retrieving Bella from her holding place, and Jacob would be assisting her from Volterra to Spain where Rosalie and Emmett would take them back to Forks. I would also be going to Spain with them, but I had the sinking feeling that I wouldn't make it out of Volterra.

"Okay," I said, turning to Jacob, "If you need anything or can't remember where to meet Rose and Emmett or need to meet them somewhere closer, call them."

Hesitantly, he took my phone, "But this is your phone…" It seemed to dawn on him then what was most likely going to happen, "You're not coming with us!"

I laughed without humor, "Jacob, to be honest with you, I highly doubt I'm going to make it out of this city. Once Bella gets to you, and I _will make sure _that she does it's all up to you to get the two of you to Spain."

I watched as the weight of the world suddenly seemed to place itself upon his shoulders. The miles between Volterra and Zaragoza Jacob would be entirely on his own to protect Bella; it was something he hadn't counted on.

As hard as it was for me to do, I rested my hand against his burning face. "You can do this, Jacob. When they pick up your scent, they won't follow it right away because it will disguise Bella's. They won't be expecting you, they'll be expecting to have to follow another Cullen."

He pulled my hand from his face and looked me in the eyes, "Why are you doing this? Willing to risk yourself to save Bella?"

"… The same reason you're here to save her." I replied. "And for that matter, the reason anybody does anything."

A smile spread across his face as he dropped my hand. "You know, you're not so bad for a blood-sucking leech."

I laughed for real this time. "Thanks, I think. You're not so bad yourself, Jake."

**-:- **

I had successfully rescued Bella from the room she was being held in, which, looking back was not all the difficult to begin with. She was being held in the part of the castle that was above ground and there were no guards which I found a little odd, but then again Aro probably ordered that no member of the Guard be anywhere near her incase they couldn't control themselves.

I learned not to breathe as Bella and I maneuvered through the alleyways of the city. As the night got darker, I could hear her stumbling along unable to see in the dark like I could. The floral scent of her blood was overwhelming even though she stayed several paces behind me and not for the first time I admired Edward's control to not bleed her dry.

As I turned a corner, I heard Bella ask me, "Why are you helping me?"

I almost laughed out loud at her audacity and selfishness. That she honestly thought I was doing this for her. Then again, the time that she spend with Edward and the Cullens, everything _was_ done for her. I rolled my eyes and scoffed as I replied, "Do not presume to think for one moment that I am doing any of this for you."

Obviously confused, Bella tried to ask me again but I silenced her. I looked both ways down the street we had come upon, "We don't have much further, go ahead." Much too slowly for my liking she same up beside me and then ran across the street with me right behind her. "Let's keep moving."

A couple minutes later, I heard Bella take a breath. "Then why are you doing this? Clearly you don't like me. So what is _Edward_ to you, that you would risk so much to save me?"

I clenched my fists and spun around to face her almost causing her to run directly into me. I took a moment to look her over and couldn't understand what Edward found so remarkable about her. My chest tightened with the knowledge that although she broke his heart and caused him to leave his home and his family for two years, he still loved her. And I realized I was about to get far too much enjoyment out of telling her what I was about to tell her.

"… Edward is my sire," I told her. "He _changed _me."

With far too much satisfaction I watched the shock spread across her face followed by the hurt. Then the shock and the hurt turned into something far darker… hatred. Bella hated me, and I found myself relishing in that fact.

"That's right, Bella. I'm the reason Edward refused to change you, because he had already taken _my _life. Edward being my sire is the _only_ reason I am helping, not out of want, but because I am compelled by the bond I share with him. What affects him, affects me, and your death would certainly affect him," I told her. "Now, let's _go_ before we waste _more_ time."

It took Bella a moment to regain herself before she continued to follow me. There were a few more blessed minutes of silence before she opened her mouth again and whispered, "You love him, don't you?"

The underlying tone of hurt in her voice almost made me whip around again, but I refrained. Besides, I couldn't tell her that, yes, I did love Edward. It was also my own selfishness that was compelling me to help her, because as a human Bella would some day die… but if the Volturi decided that they wanted her to be turned, I would likely spend eternity keeping Edward from Bella.

And then suddenly, all at once I knew I wouldn't even make it to Jacob with Bella. I cursed to myself as I turned around and picked up Bella, swinging her over my shoulder even though I told her earlier that I wouldn't. Within a couple seconds I covered the next half mile and set her back on her feet. I let her have a moment to push her stomach back into place and for some of the color to return to her cheeks before I made her focus all her attention on me.

"What's going on?" she demanded.

"You need to listen to me," I insisted. "Keep going down this alley and take the first right you come to, then take the next left and don't stop until you reach your friend Jacob and he'll take you to Rose and Emmett in Spain and from there, they'll take you back to Forks. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, but -"

"There's no time!" I hissed. "Just go! _Don't_ look back and _don't_ stop running no matter what you hear!"

I pushed her several feet down the alley and watched her run. She had just turned the corner to the next alley when he rushed by me. I grabbed him by the ankle and slammed him into the ground, putting my foot into his throat.

"Where do you think you're going, Demetri?" I snarled.

He clicked his tongue, "Wren, Aro will be so disappointed to know that you're behind this."

"It's something he'll learn to live with," I said.

Demetri placed his hands under my foot and shoved me off of him with a good deal of his strength. When I landed back on my feet, the back of his hand immediately landed across my face. I grabbed his hand and spun, the back of my foot catching him in the side of the head and causing it to whip clear around. I wasn't really concerned with causing any true damage, my only concern was keeping Demetri distracted long enough until I knew Jacob and Bella were far enough away from the edge of the city.

Although I can no longer feel physical pain, there is a semblance, a ghost of pain when you're injured. It's disturbing to hear the cracking when you're hit because you know it's your skin that's cracking, you can feel the fault lines spread and fracture before they close and heal. It's a bit jarring, in truth.

When Demetri regained himself, he and I stood facing one another for a moment before we both snarled and lunged. There was biting and punching, kicking and clawing as we tried to tear limbs from one another.

"You honestly think you've helped, Wren? The punishment they hand down will just be more harsh after what you've done," Demetri told me.

"I can see how you'd think that," I replied.

And then suddenly, everything blanked out; my vision, my hearing, my sense of smell. I was entirely disoriented, feeling like I was constantly spinning. I didn't know which way was up or down, left or right. Colors swan in front of my eyes and all I heard was white noise in my ears. It was paralyzing. I had no sense of the passing of time, nor any idea of my location. In this state I would have been entirely compliant and since I had no idea what was going on, would not have put up any fight against anything that happened to me.

**-:- **

Everything rushed back to me all at once and it was a bit overwhelming to be hit with sight, smell, and sound all at once. But when I finally got my bearings, I looked around realizing that I was standing in the antechamber of the underground castle and I also happened to see the reason for my disorientation: Afton. His gift shut down the senses, or at least made them go haywire. He must have come upon Demetri and I fighting.

Dread and terror and horror and every other unpleasant feeling in the world suddenly buried itself in my stomach. Edward and Carlisle looked completely shocked, though I couldn't bring myself to look at either of them… I was too busy watching as Marcus quirked an eyebrow while he glanced between Edward and myself because I knew that not only was he seeing the romantic relationship between Edward and me, Marcus was also seeing the sire-ward relationship. Then, to my horror, he crossed to Aro and touched his hand.

"Wren, what are you doing here!" I heard Edward ask. "And where's Bella!"

I ignored him, even in my thoughts because soon enough, Aro would outstretch his hand to me and I could not turn him down. At that moment, I was too concentrated on moving things I didn't want Aro to see behind a mental block that took me several years to develop and Bella's location happened to fall into the category of things I didn't want Aro to see, along with everything that supported Marcus seeing a relationship between Edward and I.

"Wren helped Bella escape," Demetri announced. "She then proceeded to prevent me from going and retrieving her."

Although it had been many years since the last time I saw Aro, the disapproving look that he gave me still affected me. Silently, he lifted his hand and beckoned me toward him and of their own volition it seemed, my feet carried me toward him...

* * *

**Okay, much quicker update this time! Yay!  
Next chapter is in Edward's POV and, I should let you know  
that next chapter also happens to be _THE LAST CHAPTER BEFORE THE EPILOGUE!  
_And, I only think there's going to be one epilogue, as opposed to two like I had  
two prologues. **

**Uhm... Oh, yeah! My next project will be a Harry Potter fan-fic  
titled _The Fallback_ and it is going to be a Draco/OC story. I've had  
the idea for it in my head ever since the sixth book came out. So I figured  
it was time to start writing it. :)  
So, if you're a HP fan please go check that out! **

**I would like to thank the four people who reviewed last chapter!  
Thanks guys, at least I know _some people_ are still interested in this. **

**Please review? **

**-(gxr)-**


	27. Rewrite: For Love

**Ch. 25 - For Love**

_Sorrow like a ceaseless rain_  
_Beats upon my heart._  
_People twist and scream in pain, —_  
_Dawn will find them still again;_  
_This has neither wax nor wane,_  
_Neither stop nor start._  
- Sorrow, Edna St. Vincent Millay

I watched the sun come up over the horizon the day of the Hearing. No word in the English language could've been adequate enough to describe my state of anxiety and nervousness. All I wanted to get Bella and leave and return to Forks.

But… then what?

I couldn't exactly return to Forks with Bella and let her go off by herself should the Volturi decide someday that they wanted her. On the other hand, I couldn't stay in her life, it would definitely complicate my newly founded relationship with Wren. And what would happen to Wren if we were successful and returned with Bella? Would she go off on her own leaving me and my family behind? If she chose it, I don't think I would stop her; I wouldn't be cruel enough to ask her to stay. But, would her feelings for me drive her to stay, would she make herself suffer?

_"You should know… Aro let Bella walk out of Volterra alive and human once already, and he may favor you and Carlisle, but don't think it's going to happen twice. Marcus and Caius will not allow it."_

Wren's words had been ringing in my ears for the past two days. I wouldn't let myself believe her, if I did then there was no point in being in Volterra, there was no point in attending the Hearing if I was only going to watch them kill Bella or worse, turn her. I had to believe that there was something Carlisle and I could do to help her, that our presence would somehow make a difference. There was no punishment that I believed they would pass down to Carlisle and me, but if I came to believe that I had to offer my allegiance to them to save Bella, I would.

"Edward, let's go," Carlisle said behind me, driving me abruptly from my thoughts.

I turned and followed him out of our room. When Carlisle and I arrived we informed Aro, Marcus and Caius and were given temporary quarters within the castle. Their human secretary, Sophia, led us through the castle and I found it odd that she seemed to be entirely at ease here. The anxiety and twisting in my stomach only grew as the doors to the antechamber swung open and my father and I strolled in to stand before the raised dais where Aro, Marcus and Caius sat.

"Welcome back," Aro greeted us. "Let's get down to business then, shall we?"

"Two years ago, you were told that the human Isabella Swan was to be killed or changed for her knowledge of our kind," Marcus said. "Why was this order blatantly disregarded?"

"Bella and I broke up," I told them.

Marcus raised an eyebrow, "Our order was unconditional, it doesn't matter whether you were together or not."

Carlisle took a step forward, "We did not believe that Bella was an exposure risk -"

"_All humans are an exposure risk!_" Caius snapped. "And that is not for you to determine, Carlisle. All it takes is one slip of the tongue."

"Bella is different!" I tried to tell them.

"Because you loved her?" Aro scoffed. "That's deeply reassuring."

Suddenly, I'd had enough. "Where is Bella?" I demanded, "I want to see her!"

Aro sighed and motioned to Demetri who was standing in the corner. The Tracker nodded and exited the antechamber only to return moments later with Afton, another member of the Guard who had a body thrown over his shoulder. I felt my breathing stop at the thought that it could be Bella, but when Afton tossed the body to the ground, I thought I was going to be sick.

It wasn't Bella…

It was Wren.

_What has she done!_ I thought to myself as I looked over her still form on the ground. Her smooth marble skin was covered in deep fault lines and there were fresh bite marks on her arms and neck.

"Afton," Aro said, looking to him.

Afton broke his eye contact with Wren's immobile form and after a minute she took a deep breath raising herself to a sitting position. The cracks in her skin healed as she ran her fingers through her hair and began rising, albeit unsteadily, to her feet. She looked around, seeming to try and gauge where she was, but she avoided looking at Carlisle and myself.

"Wren, what are you doing here!" I shouted. "And where's Bella!"

She ignored me both physically and mentally, all of her attention was on Marcus. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him cross to Aro and touch his hand. I watched the panic in her eyes grow and her breathing increase as a smile spread across Aro's face.

"Wren helped Bella escape," Demetri called out. "She then proceeded to prevent me from going after her."

Bella escaped? How had Wren managed that and where was she now? And mostly, why would she rescue Bella? This must've been what Jasper was so upset about before Carlisle and I left. She had told him what she was planning to do, he knew all along.

Silently, Aro raised his hand in Wren's direction and with her head hung she closed the few feet of distance. Hesitantly, she lifted her hand and placed it in Aro's. I heard Wren's distress in my head as Aro looked through her memories, but there were gaps in her memory. The biggest gap was from when I left Forks, to when she regained her consciousness not five minutes earlier.

Aro released her hand and clicked his tongue, but he was looking directly at Jane when he said, "Wren, my dear, you're hiding things."

All at once, Wren was on her knees screaming in pain and I had to prevent myself from running to her as Aro grabbed the sides of her head and closed his eyes. Whatever mental block Wren had keeping Aro from seeing things she didn't want him to see broke like a dam. And I learned that Wren had enlisted the help of Jacob in getting Bella out of Volterra which would explain why Alice had not warned me… because she couldn't.

After a minute or two, Aro released Wren who stayed on her knees before him. I found myself in shock when she sobbed dryly. The amount of disgust on the Volturi leader's face was staggering as he reached for Wren's neck and clasped the necklace that held my mother's charm on it and tore it from her neck, then there was a thundering clap as his hand slammed into the side her face.

"Did you two have any knowledge of an attempt to rescue the girl?" Aro demanded, his eyes still focused on Wren.

Carlisle answered, "No. We had no idea."

Aro, of course, already knew this, he had seen in Wren's memories that she did not disclose to us what she was planning. Why would she do this, I wondered, if she knew she was probably going to get caught? Surely Wren hadn't thought that she would be doing us any good?

"Demetri," Caius said, "Go find the girl."

Demetri said nothing and simply nodded. But as he turned to leave, Wren said barely above a whisper, "Wait, please." And Demetri stopped.

"What could you possibly have to say?" Aro spat.

Wren rose to her feet, and finally turned to look at me. The pain in her onyx eyes was haunting. _I'm sorry, Edward_, she thought before turning back to Aro, Marcus, and Caius. "Take me instead."

The breath seemed to have been knocked from everyone in the room. The anger on Aro's face turned into deep confusion, along with Marcus and Caius. "What exactly are you asking for?" Marcus wondered.

Her head hung, "Me in exchange for Bella's mortality, my… allegiance to the Volturi."

"Wren, no! Don't do this!" I begged her.

Carlisle placed his hand on my shoulder, _Let her finish. There is a possibility they won't accept._

I couldn't let her do this, let her sacrifice herself this way because I knew, _I knew_, there was no way they would turn this down. It would probably be the only chance they had at having a vampire with such a unique and powerful skill like Wren's join their ranks. And if they had to sacrifice the death of one mortal, they would take it.

I ignored Carlisle, striding to Wren's side and pulling her behind me. "Wren has nothing to do with this, if anyone is going to be offering their allegiance, it's going to be me."

"On the contrary, the minute Wren assisted in helping Bella escape she became involved in this as well," Caius replied.

"Why?" Marcus demanded, his attention on Wren.

"… All Bella did was love Edward, are you going to punish them for falling in love?" Wren whispered stepping around me, but everyone could hear her clearly. "Everyone deserves the chance to live and that's what Edward was trying to give her by letting her go -"

"Are you honestly going to buy into this!" Jane shouted, and it wasn't Aro who raised his hand to silence her, it was Marcus. And I realized Wren wasn't trying to appeal to Aro, she trying to appeal to Marcus the one of them who had lost their love.

After a breath, Wren continued, "Had Demetri not run into Edward and I in Chicago, the inclination to see if the Cullens had followed your orders would not have come up, and by the time you truly did it's likely Bella would have died a mortal death anyway and by that time it would not have mattered. Although they are no longer together, they still love one another… Bella is not, nor do I believe she will ever tell anyone of our existence. And so far, since there are no mortals banging down your doors with holy water, stakes and strings of garlic, she's proven that she can be trusted."

"You are truly willing give up your freedom for a girl who probably would not do the same for you and for someone who would likely choose another over you?" Marcus asked.

"I wouldn't choose another," I snapped vehemently.

"And I'm not going to make him," Wren said immediately after.

What else could I do? My mind scrambled for a solution. There was only one I could come up with, one that would make Wren angry with me. It was my very last option and one that I hoped would hold some sort of credence with the Volturi.

"… As Wren's sire, I am not permitting her to do this." It was the only trump card I had.

Wren's eyes went wide as she turned to face me her mouth open in indignation. "Your venom may be my own but you have absolutely_ no_ claim as my sire! The minute you left me to suffer through my transformation by myself, I was a solitary vampire and have been for my entire existence! You are unbelievable!"

She turned away from me then, back to Aro, Marcus and Caius all of whom had humor dancing in their eyes. "I am willingly offering my allegiance in exchange for Isabella Swan's life."

There was silence, but that silence seemed to echo with Wren's self-sacrifice. She was sacrificing her freedom for a girl she barely knew, and for that matter didn't even like. And I realized she was doing this for me, somehow; to try and save me the pain of losing Bella permanently. At that point it occurred to me just how much Wren loved me, she loved me enough to surrender her happiness and freedom to let me go, something I don't think Bella would have ever done. Bella was so enamored that she couldn't bare to be without me, but Wren was willing to put herself through that torture to save what she probably viewed as her competition.

And yet, I found myself willing Aro, Marcus and Caius not to accept Wren's offer. But as the three of them turned their attention back to her from their short conference, I knew they would.

"If Carlisle agrees that he and his coven will look over Bella for the remainder of her mortal life to ensure that she does not become more of an exposure risk than she already is, we will accept your offer," Aro said. "On the condition that she remain human and die a natural death."

"I agree," Carlisle said.

I understood this was meant to be a punishment for me as well. My family and I would be Bella's guardians her entire life and she was to remain human. I would see her grow to love others and be haunted by the fact that I could have been with her if only I had the fortitude to turn her.

"Very well then, Carlisle, Edward you are free to leave," Aro said. "Wren, you remember where your quarters are."

Everyone left then leaving Carlisle, Wren and myself in the antechamber. I rushed to her side, but she was staring off seeming to have become a statue. "Please don't do this," I whispered.

Her eyes fluttered as if she were trying not to cry, "It's done, Edward."

"Why? Why did you do it?" I demanded.

Wren laughed, "People do some pretty stupid things for love, don't you think?"

The weight in my chest felt like it doubled when she turned her eyes to my face; the resignation in her expression was heartbreaking. My throat tightened knowing that this was the last time I was going to see her for a very long time. I had just found her after almost ninety years and now I was going to lose her again after only having her for a couple months.

"… I… thank you, Wren." It was the only thing I could think to say.

She rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Don't _thank me_, don't cheapen what I've just done for you, Edward."

"… What do you expect me to say, then?"

Shrugging her shoulders she replied, "I don't know."

I took a step forward and pulled her toward me until our foreheads were touching. I could feel her shaking as I lifted my hand and laid it against her face and her hands came up to grip the front of my shirt tightly. This was the last moment I was going to have with Wren for what was probably a very long time and yet, I couldn't spend it with her the way I wanted. All I had was a few short moments to encapsulate how I felt about her, and what she meant to me.

"Tell me this is a nightmare," I found myself whispering.

_It's not_, she replied silently.

Without another word, I lifted her face and pressed my lips against hers. Wren fell against me, her arms coming around my back. For the moments we embraced, nothing else existed. It was slow and sweet as if we really did have eternity, but all too soon she pushed me away.

"You should go," she breathed.

"Wren, you can't honestly expect me to -"

"Don't, Edward." Wren whispered, lifting her eyes to mine. A ghost of a smile graced her face, "I really do love you."

As the words left her lips, all I wanted to do was beg her to come back with me. I felt my throat tighten as I kissed her gently, "I know, and I love you too… I'll be waiting for you to come back."

"Edward," Carlisle finally called. We turned as he approached the two of us, but his attention was solely focused on Wren.

"I'm sorry, Carlisle, I just -" Wren started, but Carlisle cut her off with a raised hand.

"I understand completely, I would have done the same," he told her with an easy smile. He then, ran his thumb along the edge of her cheek the way a father would, "You're very brave."

We bid our farewells. My last image of Wren was of her crossing to where Aro had thrown my mother's necklace and crouching to pick it up.

* * *

**Holy crimony! Cranky much, people! Goodness!  
**

**Well, here, I fixed it! **

**When I orginally wrote this chapter, I didn't intend for it to  
come off as Edward "didn't care" that Wren was sacrificing herself.  
I meant for it to come off as he was too shocked to at what she was doing  
to come up with anything to save her. **

**I hope this re-write is a little more acceptable! geez, you would have thought  
I decided to kill her off. **

**-(gxr)-**


	28. Epilogue: The Returning

**Epilogue: The Returning**

_Give all to love;  
__Obey thy heart;  
__Friends, kindred, days,  
__Estate, good-frame,  
__Plans, credit and the Muse,—  
__Nothing refuse.  
- _Give All to Love, Ralph Waldo Emerson

During my second stay in Volterra I came to the profound understanding that death is a disease. From the moment we are born as humans, every day of our life is leading up to the day we finally die. Slowly, a piece of you dies each day; each hour; each minute; each second. As a vampire, we live with that disease every day… mostly because we long for it. And if you meet a vampire that says they don't want to truly die, they're lying. And it is the weight of losing that disease, that possibility of death, that we carry with us for eternity.

I don't remember how long I had been in Volterra when I found out, after the first couple years, I stopped keeping track of the passing of time all it did was depress and upset me. I often wondered whether or not the Volturi regretted accepting my offer of my allegiance in exchange for Bella's life because I knew I was no longer the same person afterward. So much so, that Demetri at long last gave up in his fruitless pursuit of me.

For awhile, I was angry at Edward for leaving me there and I hated him for it. But then, I thought about it and put myself in Edward's place and came to realize that I probably would have done the exact same thing if Michele were involved. But that didn't make me hate being trapped here any less.

I was a little less than miserable. I missed my family… I missed Edward. Over the years we spent apart we had no contact with one another, nor did I have any correspondence with Esme and Carlisle, Alice and Jasper, or Rose and Emmett. I wouldn't put myself through the pain of it, but I missed all of them with a desperation I didn't think I was capable of.

I refused to be a member of the Guard and worked within the relatively new research and history department. It kept me busy, traveling around the world to gather the myths of vampirism from different cultures as well as collecting vampiric artifacts. But most of all, it kept me away from Aro, Marcus, Caius as well as any other member of the Guard.

My longest job lasted about ten years because I worked by myself. I was stationed in Transylvania given the task to find all information I could on Count Dracula _not_ Vlad the Impaler. I lived in Castle Dracula situated in the Carpathian Mountains for a time, combing through it. It was abandoned of course, and had been for over a hundred years ever since the Harkers, Jonathan and Mina with the help of Abraham Van Helsing, Quincey Morris, John Seward, and Arthur Holmwood killed him. The humans still refused to go anywhere near it, so everything still remained all of which I shipped back to Volterra. I found journals and diaries that belonged to the Count, the languages and dialects changing as the years passed. I also found the diaries of one of his brides who had only been seventeen when Dracula fell in love with and changed her.

This eventually led me to Exeter to recover the diaries of everyone involved with Dracula. I managed to discover that like Edward, Dracula had some kind of mental gift allowing him to create a telepathic connection between him and Mina Harker and that this was also, in the end, his downfall. From what I could discover, Dracula was the first vampire to ever have a gift as he predated Aro, Marcus and Caius. I spent weeks in the libraries combing through periodicals and collecting the articles about _Demeter_, the ship that carried Dracula to England, which led me to the Captain of the ship's remaining family to retrieve his captain's logs.

After that, I was on my way to Amsterdam to retrieve Van Helsing's records. There, I found he had an abnormal amount of dealings in the vampire world and had more than once crossed paths with various members of the Volturi. From Van Helsing's records and journals I was led to several other countries where he hunted and destroyed our kind. He was an interesting man and died well in his seventies with was odd for the time period he lived in.

When I returned to Volterra with all the information I could on Count Dracula and anyone connected to him, I spent the next few years cataloguing it all in the archives. I found that I rather enjoyed my job, which I was loathe to admit to anyone, but it was true. Though I desperately wished to leave and return to Edward and the Cullens, my job distracted me for a time.

I also found myself not keeping track of the Cullen's threads, it would only upset me more. I distinctively ignored Edward's, because I would be unable to handle it should his thread grow as thin as it once did because he had fallen in love with Bella. I didn't want to know if, during the time we were apart, he fell back in love with her.

**-:-**

One winter day I was in my room playing my piano because I refused to let my loss of Edward take my love of music like Michele's death had. It was at least sometime in January because Christmas had passed, as well as New Years celebrations. I heard a knock at my door and briefly stopped playing to tell whoever was on the otherside that they could come in. When I saw Demetri stroll through my door, I rolled my eyes and continued playing.

"What do you want, Demetri?" I wondered, not missing a note.

"… I'm here to inform you that… you're free to leave," he said.

My playing stopped abruptly as I turned to look at him. "This isn't funny, and I don't appreciate it!" I snapped, suddenly angered. How dare he be so cruel when he knew that the one thing I desired most was to leave this place.

He took a few steps toward me, "I assure you this is not a joke, Wren. Isabella Swan passed away a few days ago, and I was sent to confirm it."

"Why?" I demanded.

"Your arrangement with Aro, Marcus and Caius was contingent upon Bella being alive and her being an exposure risk. Upon her natural death, your deal is made void; it's a little difficult to be an exposure risk when you're dead," he told me. "Ergo, you are free to leave."

"I can leave? … But I thought…"

What I had thought was that my allegiance to the Volturi was permanent, that whether Bella was alive or dead was of no consequence. I was never given any indication that I might someday be able to leave, and I hadn't had the heart to tell Edward that I'll never come back when he told me that he would be waiting for me the last time I saw him.

Demetri nodded, "I know what you thought, but that's not how it is. I assure you this is not a joke, or a ruse, you truly are free to leave."

I smiled, the first truly kind gesture I had given Demetri in decades. "Thank you, Demetri."

He smiled in return, "Wren, despite what you think of me, I truly did love you. Aro was perfectly content to let you stay here for eternity and never tell you. Marcus is the one who told me to tell you."

I knew there had been something behind trying to appeal to Marcus's heart when I made the deal. He understood the heartbreak and agony of losing the one you loved. And while he may want that for Aro for killing Didyme, he wouldn't wish it on someone else.

Demetri closed the distance between us and kissed my forehead, "Go home, Wren."

**-:-**

It didn't appear that anyone was home when I returned to the Cullen house. Snow covered absolutely everything with it's thick blanketing, and yet the sunlight that did make it through the clouds made it shimmer almost blindingly. I had never seen anything more beautiful in my entire existence.

I took a deep breath and focused on my family's threads and smiled when I realized Edward was home. I made a note to thank Alice when I next saw her for clearing the house because I was sure she had seen me returning. Silently, I approached the house and made my way inside. I let my eyes adjust to the darkness before I made my way through the rooms. Nothing had changed from the last time I was here.

As I made my way up the stairs, I found it odd that Edward had yet to come see who was in the house, for surely he had already picked up my scent. I stopped at the top of the stairs, all of the bedroom doors were open with the exception of what was once my bedroom and Edward's door that was cracked open. Soft music was making its way into the hallway from his room.

I took a deep breath as I pushed his door open. I found him standing on his balcony with his back to me, reading a book in his hands. I recognized it as one of the books that had been on my shelf. I simply watched him for a few moments managing to control myself from rushing to him and throwing myself at him. The pressure in my chest from just seeing him again, I thought would kill me.

"Edward?" I whispered, finally finding my voice.

He stiffened visibly at the sound of my voice. Slowly, the book in his hands closed and he turned to face me. By the expression on his face, you would have thought I was some spectral being come to haunt him. Edward just stood there and stared at me.

I took a step forward with a chuckle, "Edward… I'm really here, I promise."

Still seeming unsure, Edward took a step toward me, then another and another until he was within arms length reach of me. He carefully raised his hand and cupped my cheek and released the breath he was holding as his hand moved into my hair.

"I didn't think you were coming back," he whispered.

"Neither did I to tell you the truth," I replied.

Before I could say anything else, Edward pulled me flush against him and pressed our lips together. Where before there had been uncertainty and shyness between us, now there was only lust and want. We left no space for the time we'd been apart. It was as if we hadn't spent another couple of decades apart.

"I'm sorry," he was suddenly whispering against my mouth.

"Sorry?" I replied, opening my eyes and finding him staring back at me.

"For letting you stay there, it should've been me," he said, moving my hair back from my face.

"It doesn't matter anymore," I told him.

He chuckled then, "Rose told me I don't deserve you."

I thought about that for moment and said, "You don't."

"I know," he whispered before catching my mouth with his again.

Edward's hands came under my thighs, lifting me up so I could wrap my legs around his waist. I felt him turn us around and take a few steps before bending forward and my back was against his couch and his weight was on top of me.

His caresses were slow at first, over my face and neck as if he were trying to commit it to memory. My head and shoulders fell back and I heard myself sigh at the lightness of his touch. Soon after his mouth followed, trailing open mouthed kisses along my neck, but he paused when he reached where my neck curved into my shoulder. As I was lifting my head to ask him if something was wrong, I felt his teeth enclose on my skin and sink in slowly. All manner of rational thought left me and far more than a sigh escaped my lips as I gripped his shirt and arched into him, and I felt him smile against my skin.

Edward's hand went from my side, to my hip, then to my outer thigh where he pulled it up higher to latch around his hip. There was a tingling in my stomach that I hadn't experienced in years as he pressed himself against me. My hand slipped beneath the edge of his t-shirt and I felt his muscles there constrict at the sudden touch and he relaxed further into my body.

Edward brought his arms up until his elbows were resting on either side of my head, "I've missed you."

I smiled, "And I, you." For a while we merely regarded one another silently, until I reached for his neck and pulled him toward me. "Kiss me."

Edward grinned wickedly as he leaned down to comply with my demand. It was softer and warmer than the one before and the growing sensation in my stomach increased with each brush of his hips against my own. Edward's hand returned to my hip, but this time, it ventured beneath the fabric of my shirt to hold my side and I was letting myself get lost in the feeling of his hand against a part of my skin that hadn't been touched in years. His mouth left mine returning once again to my neck, until he reached the lobe of my ear, which made me pull him closer to me and extracted such a groan from my mouth that even I was shocked.

But suddenly, just as I was lifting Edward's shirt up, he pushed himself up and away from me. I rose to my elbows finding him standing at the end of the couch. The comforting weight of his body was immediately being replaced with the crushing weight of rejection.

"Is something wrong?" I wondered, my voice but a breath.

He shook his head, "No, nothing's wrong."

"Then why did you stop?" I demanded, sitting up fully. The anger was replacing the pleasant feeling in my stomach and if Edward didn't explain himself in the next five seconds, he would never see me again.

"Because, if we kept going I wouldn't have been able to stop," Edward replied, rounding the end of the couch and coming to kneel in front of me.

Rolling my eyes I wondered, "Why does that matter? After everything are you truly telling me that you don't want to be with me physically?"

Edward laughed then, "Of course not! First, I want you to be my wife."

"Are… are you sure?"

He laughed out loud, throwing his head back in mirth as he took my head in his hands. Edward looked me in the eyes with a gentle smile as he said, "Always."

* * *

**Allrighty then... IT'S FINISHED! Wren has returned and all is right with the world!  
Did you honestly think I was going to keep them apart? Please. **

**Oh, to acknowledge the sections where I mentioned Dracula and the people associated with him  
they are all property of Bram Stoker. I just thought it would be an interesting thing to add in.  
And, well, if you're going t be catalouging vampiric history, you better include Dracula. :)**

**I briefly thought about doing a second epilogue in Edward's POV that would  
be the actual wedding, but... meh, I don't know if I really want to... Maybe  
if enough people tell me they want it, I will. I'm not sure yet. **

**So, for now, farewell my loves! And thank you for reading Death is a Disease.  
Please feel free to review one final time for this story, and I'll be seeing you next in the  
Harry Potter fandom! **

**-(gxr)-**


	29. Epilogue II: A Promise

**Epilogue II: A Promise**

_Love's riddles are, that though thy heart depart,  
__It stays at home, and thou with losing savest it;  
__But we will have a way more liberal,  
__Than changing hearts, to join them; so we shall  
__Be one, and one another's all.  
_- Lovers' Infiniteness, John Donne

I don't think my family had ever been more disappointed in me than when Carlisle and I returned without Wren. Esme and Alice were so upset that I briefly thought they would actually start to cry, and Jasper was so angry with me that I thought he was going to kill me.

"I'm sorry Edward," Alice said, "I saw her future disappear, but by that time it was too late to warn you."

"What happened?" Esme demanded.

"Wren enlisted Jacob's help in rescuing Bella and getting her out of Volterra," Carlisle explained.

"What about the Hearing?" Jasper asked, knowing that all parties had to be present.

Carlisle and I both averted our eyes. How could we tell them that Wren wasn't coming back? "Wren… offered her allegiance in exchange for Bella's life. Bella is on her way back to Forks with Rosalie, Emmett and Jacob. "

Esme's hand came up to cover her mouth while Carlisle pulled her into his arms. Alice hung her head which told me that Wren giving herself up and not coming back was what she _had_ seen. Jasper's fists clenched at his sides while his eyes narrowed in a venomous glare. His thoughts all held a poisonous tone as his jaw clenched.

"And you just… _left_ her there!" he sneered.

"What would you have done?" I wondered.

"Anything but leave the woman I claim to love half-way around the world!" Jasper snapped. "You have _no_ idea what she feels for you and if you did maybe you would have felt more inclined to perhaps sacrifice yourself!"

"They probably still would have taken Wren," Carlisle quipped. "They value the special talents of vampires, Wren's gift is more versatile and unique than Edward's."

Jasper gave me a once-over, the most disgusted expression plastered on his face before he turned and stomped up the stairs. I understood his anger, to him I had done nothing to prevent Wren from staying there. But, I do truly believe that no matter what I had done, no matter how much I pleaded or offered myself, Wren still would have stubbornly insisted they take her.

I went up the stairs, but instead of going to my room, I went down the hall to Wren's. She hadn't even bothered to clean before she left, and things were strewn haphazardly here and there. Figaro looked up at me from his place on the chaise lounge, his head tilting questioningly.

With a sigh, I moved to sit beside him and he immediately crawled into my lap. As I was stroking his fur, it finally occurred to me that Wren wasn't coming back. She wouldn't miraculously show up with Rose and Emmett, I wouldn't walk in on her seated at the piano... _What have I done? _I thought wretchedly, bringing my hand to cover my mouth while I blinked back the stinging in my eyes.

I made a promise to myself that day: If I ever saw Wren again, I would spend eternity making this up to her. I would spend eternity showing her my love. There would never be a moment, a day, an instant where she didn't know the severity of my adoration for her.

**-:- **

I didn't know true anger until Emmett and Rose returned about two days later. I heard Emmett's jeep crunching the gravel of the driveway as he pulled up to the house. I was sitting in the living room reading a book I had pulled from Wren's shelf when the front door open and in strolled Rose, followed by my brother, and a few moments later, Bella herself, at which point I heard Jasper immediately leave the premises.

"We're so glad you're home!" Esme greeted them, pulling them both into a hug and placing kisses on their cheeks. She even embraced Bella briefly telling her, "I'm glad you're okay."

"Thanks Mom," Emmett said cheerily. I stood and walked into the foyer as he turned to me, "Hey little brother!"

At that moment, Rose knew something was off. She looked around me into the living room a smile on her face… she was expecting Wren to have come to greet them as well. "… Where's Wren?"

"In Volterra," I answered.

"What? Why?" Emmett questioned.

But Rosalie seemed to understand immediately. The happiness dropped from her features to be replaced by a bone chilling fury. Her eyes darkened as they reached my face, and out of the corner of my eye I watched Esme grab Bella by the arm and pull her out of the way. "Yes, Edward, tell us why," she sneered.

"She offered her allegiance in exchange for Bella's life," I told her.

Immediately after I finished my sentence, Rose's hands came and shoved me so hard I stumbled back several feet and knocked over the coffee table before regaining myself. "And you just left her there!"

"Rosalie, you don't understand -" Esme tried to come to my rescue, but Rose cut her off.

"I understand well enough that Wren's not here and Bella is, so clearly Edward didn't love her enough to keep her from staying there!" Rosalie screamed. "Clearly he would rather have a girl who can't think for herself and has no more personality than a rock, than the _woman _who is more human than all of us and willing to sacrifice everything for him!"

"You're right," I told her. "I made a mistake, one I will spend eternity trying to rectify, but I swear to you that it is not because I don't love her."

Rose's lip curled in revulsion, "You disgust me, Edward. And you don't deserve Wren… she's too good for you."

At that, Rose stormed off with Emmett close behind him. Sighing in irritation, I turned to right the coffee table I had knocked over when Rosalie shoved me. I heard Esme walk into the kitchen, leaving Bella in the foyer by herself. The floorboards creaked as she made her way toward me and I unconsciously stopped my breathing.

"Edward?" she said.

I didn't turn around, "Go home Bella."

"What?"

Now, I turned coming to face her confused expression. I looked her over finding myself wondering what I had seen in her, perhaps I was jaded, but I found myself comparing Wren and Bella only to come a conclusion that I probably already knew: I didn't love her the way I once did, or as much as I once did. She would always be important to me, but she was… utterly incomparable to Wren. And with that knowledge in my mind, watching over her for her mortal life would not be as much of a punishment as it had once seemed.

"That girl who helped me… what is she to you?" Bella asked.

"Everything," I told her honestly. "And possessed by some misguided fear I let her accept a punishment that should've been my own."

"You don't love me anymore?"

I shook my head, "I didn't say that. But at the same time, there's nothing here for you anymore, Bella. So, go home, Charlie's worried about you."

I turned away from her, not waiting to see the tears build in her eyes or if they spilled over her cheeks. I didn't turn back around until I heard her leave the house. I wasn't worried about her getting home because Jacob had been standing in the driveway the entire time waiting for her. With a sigh, I picked up the book I had been reading and headed back upstairs with the intention to write a letter and send it to Volterra.

As I passed her door, Alice appeared, "She won't read it."

Lost in my thoughts, I turned to her questioningly, "What?"

"If you write Wren a letter, she won't read it. I thought about it myself, but then I saw that she won't even open it before throwing it away… I think it would hurt her too much," she said.

I nodded in understanding knowing that she was probably right, "Thanks Alice."

**-:- **

Days pass… then weeks… then months… then years. I didn't spend much time with Bella throughout the rest of her life. I grew to see her as the cause of Wren's absence which in turn made me not very pleasant toward her. In time I think I made her believe that she didn't mean anything to me anymore. I missed Wren with every second of everyday. I was devastated when we had to put Figaro down because of old age because he was the last physical thing I had connecting me to Wren.

While Wren lived in Volterra as a member of the Volturi, Bella went on to graduate college, get married and have a daughter. In her mid-forties, Bella was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Carlisle took up the job as her doctor and after about a year of chemotherapy and radiation, as well as the removal of one of her kidneys Bella fell into remission. But, then a few years later it re-appeared, and spread, and quickly at that. Carlisle and Bella's other doctors did all they could but in the end it wasn't enough and Bella passed away.

Carlisle sent a letter to the Volturi informing them of Bella's death, that she was no longer an exposure risk. Within a day of that letter, Demetri showed up to confirm her death. His job done, he left presumably to return to Volterra.

And then within two days of his departure was Wren's arrival.

**-:-**

I wasn't aware she was on her way home, when we questioned Demetri about it he was curt and unhelpful. The day she returned everyone left in the early hours of the day, claiming to have some chore or another to accomplish and it was in the later afternoon that I heard her call my name. I hadn't believed my ears at first, the shock making me immobile. And when I turned and met her eyes, I knew there was no way it was anyone but Wren, there was no one who could master her grin. When my hands tangled in her hair, and my lips met hers, I suddenly wondered how I had lived without her.

I thought my heart would burst with exhilaration when Wren agreed to marry me. In the hours that followed my family returned, Alice the most excited one because of course she already knew Wren would agree to marry me. I also had the feeling that Alice had already made arrangements for the wedding, and when she pulled Wren by the arm crying, "I want you to see your dress!" I had my affirmative. I expected to hear complaints about Wren wanting to pick out her own dress, but there were none to my surprise.

Further arrangements and planning only took about a week. We went to a small, quaint church, but you would have thought from the way Alice, Rosalie and Esme decorated, that Wren and I were getting married in St. Patrick's Church in New York. Alice and Rose took their places as Wren's bridesmaids, while Jasper and Emmett were my groomsmen. Carlisle would be walking Wren down the aisle, and Esme offered to play the piano.

The church doors opened and Alice and Jasper strolled in, both grinning widely. Wren had chosen for Alice and Rosalie to wear cocktail length dresses of deep purple, the fabric gathering at one hip with a brooch. After Alice and Jasper were of course Rosalie and Emmett, and of course, Rose looked picture perfect and she had to know it, but I was surprised at her demure demeanor. As they took their places, Esme started the Wedding March, and in walked Carlisle leading Wren by one arm down the aisle covered in yellow and pink rose petals.

I could have died happy the moment I laid eyes on her. She wore no veil, her hair was curled and pushed to one side to cascade down over her shoulder. I had thought, Alice being the way she was that she would choose an ostentatious dress, but I was pleasantly surprised and stunned because Wren looked… like heaven on earth. The dress was simple, ivory satin to offset her white skin, strapless and the fabric seemed to twist just above the bust to add detail. She carried no bouquet, only a single orchid.

"Who gives this woman away?" the priest asked.

"I do," Carlisle replied, before he turned and kissed Wren's forward, and helping her take the step that would put her level with me.

Esme stood from the piano to join Carlisle in the front pew as the priest continued. The rest of the world seemed to fade away, we never took our eyes off one another. I almost laughed because I could see Wren growing more excited the closer the priest got to "_I now pronounce you man and wife_", though we had modified it to be "_I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Cullen"_ , and at one point I thought she was going to tell him to speed it up.

Wren hadn't wanted a ring, she told me. All she wanted was a band, Wren said that she didn't need a big fancy ring to prove our love. And if that's what she wanted, it was what she was going to get. We exchanged our rings, matching rose gold bands.

_Here it comes… _she thought excitedly glancing once to the priest and then back to me. "… And by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, you may kiss your bride."

I didn't need anyone to tell me twice, so resting my hand against her neck, I pulled her forward until our lips met in a heated kiss that only promised of things to come.

* * *

**Alright, alright, you suckered me into it!  
Here's the wedding! **

**And actually, Wren's dress is a real dress that I found  
that I thought was quite perfect for her. It's from Disney's  
Princess Wedding Line, I'll get a picture of it in my bio here in a little bit. **

**SO, THIS IS THE OFFICIAL END OF DEATH IS A DISEASE!**

**I hope you all enjoyed the ride! Thank you a thousand times over to those  
who alerted/favorited and of course reviewed! If you're not an author on here  
you couldn't understand what it means when you get a review, so for the smile  
that gets put on my face by no other thing other than a review, thank you! **

**:) **

**-(gxr)- **


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